Assassin's Code
by Double0h
Summary: With their normal lives on eighteenth century Earth nothing more than memories after a mishap with an unidentified Piece of Eden, Connor Kenway and Arno Dorian find themselves in downtown Pendragon with no understanding of the world around them. (I know that this technically isn't where this is supposed to be but I wasn't sure anyone would find it in the ACXCG area.)
1. Chapter 1

Arno Dorian sat silently as he continued to write on the piece of parchment in front of him. He grumbled and scowled as he made another mistake thanks to the constant swaying he was forced to endure. He had been sitting in his chair rewriting the same note three times now, and each time he actually made any progress he would always end up making huge scribbles thanks to the inconsistent movement of the room itself. Technically, the room wasn't exactly moving, what the room was built into was moving.

Arno was actually on a ship in the middle of the ocean. With no solid ground, or personal space, or places to climb thanks to the accursed captain who had forbidden him from climbing the mast. It wasn't pleasant. At all. But Arno had important business to attend to and as a master assassin, it was his duty to ensure that whatever he did for the order, be done to damn near perfection.

That didn't mean he had to like it though. He didn't have to enjoy sitting in his room which smelt of piss, vinegar, and some form of feces. He wasn't required to pretend like the rotten logs above his head weren't pathetically disgusting. No, he need only tolerate it. He could suffer through this hell on earth and make it to New York. He could also plan on how he would get back at the one who had caused him to be booked passage to America on a piece of glorified drift wood.

Oh yes, he would be sure to have plenty of small ways to bring righteous punishment down upon his torturer. A man that Arno suspected was actually some form of sadist. Arno was certainly serious when necessary, but he was naturally easy going, and free spirited where this man was nothing more than a machine wearing human skin. The man known as Master Assassin Conner Kenway.

The man must have some form of metal rod shoved so far up his rear end that it would never see daylight again. It was insane! Though Arno had never met the man in person, he had heard the tales. Stoney faced, and forever serious. He was what younger Assassins spoke of as the boogeyman for any new-blood that had the unfortunate fate of being placed under him.

As a man now into his fifth decade on earth, and his third as an Assassin, he was legendary throughout the American, and European branches of the Assassins. He had rebuilt the United States' branch of the Assassins, and shattered the back of the Templar order in his region. While they were still attempting to regain momentum against the U.S. Assassins, Connor continued to build upon the progress that his branch had already made.

Arno sneered as he scrunched up the paper and tossed it behind his head. As a man with the same rank, but less time on the job, he would be considered as his subordinate. That would be painfully annoying, but he wasn't a fool, getting back at Connor wouldn't disrupt work, just knock him down a few pegs.

His little acts of justice would still be plenty of fun though, and the sarcastic barb on his tongue wasn't going anywhere. This would certainly be an interesting little time waster for the slow periods while on the job.

* * *

Connor Kenway felt a cold shiver go down his spine as he continued to look at the small golden disk on his work desk. He had been carefully inspecting it for the last two months after finding it on a Templar who had left himself open to a well-placed arrow. He shook his head quickly and returned to carefully looking over each small detail about the piece; the way it shone with an eerie golden glow, the strange geometric designs that depicted abnormal objects that Connor had never seen before, and the mysterious words that Connor could never hope to interpret.

He didn't like it, it screamed danger. He had decided that the best course of action was to send for someone who also had experience with a strange piece much like the one that he had found. Master Assassin Arno Dorian wasn't exactly someone that Connor would normally want to work with, on account of his infamy as a somewhat loose cannon. He had even been kicked out for a period of time for disobeying orders. Connor had been the same when he was younger, but had long since kicked the habit. Unfortunately, Arno still seemed to be aloof, often acting on his own. His adventures usually paid off, but there was no telling how long until it came to bite him somehow.

Granted, when directly ordered to complete something, he did whatever it was to the best of his abilities. But that didn't excuse doing other side objectives that were expected to be looked over by one's superiors before being acted upon. His disregard for this rule infuriated Connor to no end. While he no longer had any direct superiors placed over him, thanks to the unfortunate loss of almost every Assassin within the colonies, he still respected the judgement and guidance of mentors from other Assassin branches.

Connor let out a long sigh as he rubbed his brow and paced back and forth in the dimly lit room. He had been at this for hours and still didn't know if he should even try to move the device. It was a Piece of Eden; that was obvious. What wasn't so obvious was what he could and couldn't do to it. Apparently Arno actually wielded one as a weapon, the Sword of Eden. Though very little was still known about it, the combat capabilities were considered great enough for the Assassins to clear it for active use by a master Assassin; specifically Arno.

With luck, the man would know how best to handle this piece as well, but that would have to wait until his accomplice reached America.

* * *

Arno couldn't begin to contain the amount of joy he felt as he looked to the ground before him. Solid ground! He hadn't touched such a thing in what felt like decades. He immediately gathered up everything he owned and almost flew down the ramp to the dock. He ignored all else as he ran down the planks to the solid stone twenty feet ahead.

The lack of shifting and rocking made the running feel almost as if he had died and gone to heaven. No more loss of balance, no more uncertainties. This was where Arno belonged. He reached the end of the wooden dock and almost kissed the ground at his feet. The only thing stopping him being the amount of attention he now noticed he had been receiving.

He should have made an attempt to stop and think about the fact that he was not alone here. He should have thought about the fact that a man with a dark blue cloak that looked strangely like a military uniform of some kind sprinting towards town with his arms full of strange items would be rather eye catching. But it seemed that Arno had completely forgotten such things when his salvation was finally within reach.

What made it worse was that his contact he was supposed to meet had most likely seen the pathetic display he had just made. The master Assassin, famous for so many amazing deeds, broke the second tenant in his first twenty minutes in America. He cringed at that.

"Very subtle, Master Arno," A deep and rugged voice rumbled from behind the extremely annoyed Assassin. "You truly are a shining example for novices near and far."

The voice wasn't happy. Arno knew that much, happy voices weren't laced with venom and didn't drip with violent intent. That didn't bode well for him, at all.

Maybe he could bullshit his way out of this, he'd done so before. It can't be impossible to trick the bastard right? "This is a technique that I've honed over years of training." Arno boasted, lying straight through his teeth with hardly enough conviction in his tone to fool a two-year old. Regardless, he carried on. "It's quite simple really, you make yourself so painfully obvious that a Templar would assume that you couldn't possibly be an Assassin."

"Oh?" That wasn't the tone that one used when they were convinced.

Arno knew he wasn't selling it, he knew it. But even as his mind already began to picture where his body would be found after whoever it was behind him was through, he continued to make it worse. "Oh, yes! It truly is a marvelous tactic. You wouldn't believe how many targets it allowed me to bring down!"

"If you continue digging your own grave then I'm no longer going to be able to resist the temptation of making use of it." The voice responded in a deadly serious manner that left no room for question.

Arno breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the mysterious person finally back away. It was already obvious who it was, the seriousness, the gruff and creepy voice, and the quiet sound of leather hitting timber confirmed who it was that Arno was meeting: Master Connor.

As he turned to take in the sight of his ally, he was met with a tall and imposing visage. He wore heavily modified Assassin's robes that sported multiple fur pelts. Some appeared to be elk, while others were fox, or leopard skins. The robes themselves seemed to be loosely based off of the continental army's uniform, but with the colors reversed. He wore two finely detailed flintlock pistols at his sides, and an intricately detailed tomahawk that appeared to have been forged into the shape of the Creed's symbol rested in a sheath on his belt. His hood remained up, shielding the entirety of his hair and forehead, but ensured that his eyes were still able to take in as much of the world around him as possible. From what skin could be seen, his complexion was what you would expect from an average sailor, but his features made it obvious that he was of native decent. Finally, Arno took note of his eyes, his very angry, very annoyed eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown and conveyed a very obvious message: _I'm pissed._

And unfortunately, that message was currently being sent to Arno himself. Normally, this didn't happen until Arno had already pulled off some form of beautiful prank that one could argue was more breathtaking to behold than even the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the moment.

"We can talk about your idiocy later, we need to move." Connor said in a commanding tone as he turned and made his way down the street, ensuring that Arno could make no further attempts at mending the situation.

He knew that his best chance of making it to the Assassin's hideout with his head still attached probably wasn't to talk. So instead he allowed his training to take over. He began by scanning his surroundings and taking in as much as possible. He used his Eagle Vision to heighten his senses and began to listen closely to every sound within a one hundred foot radius. He heard the chirping of birds, the click of hooves on the cobblestone ground, and the ocean of idle chatter being spoken by the civilians that surrounded Connor and himself. He peered out at the world around him from beneath his hood and looked at the many men and women in their daily attires. Almost everyone present wore the clothes of peasants, save for perhaps one or two gentlemen wearing fine silk outfits that showed their status as upper class citizens. Arno looked at the buildings and noted good hand and footholds for if he needed to make a quick escape. The brick buildings were solid and well built. But what was important was that the cold weather of late fall ensured that the windows were kept closed. And that meant that the wooden framing of the glass was within easy reach for anyone looking to reach the rooftops.

So far so good, with no one of interest in the vicinity, and access to the rooftops within arm's length Arno was able to lower his guard ever so slightly. Releasing his Eagle Vision, he let a confident smirk grace his lips. He could weasel his way out of trouble easily enough once they reached safety, and the grey overcast gave the afternoon sky a cool and calming feel. But what Arno was most enjoying was the much more clean sense he got from the town. Instead of having to deal with the stink of the over crowded streets of Paris, he was able to smell the nearby forest. It calmed him, the thrumming sound of people going about daily life but without the disgusting stench of overpopulation.

This calming effect, however, was ended rather abruptly as Connor stopped in front of an old wooden door that lead into some strange structure.

"Uh, what is this exactly Master Connor?" Arno questioned, already feeling whatever calm he had before collapse as he heard the reply.

"An entrance to the tunnels built beneath the city, we use them to move about safely." Connor began as he opened the door. "They aren't exactly clean though."

"Perfect," Arno muttered as he began to smell the stench of rot and decay. However, in his mind he had found himself thinking once again what he would do to repay Connor for all these little hellholes he seemed to force Arno into.

* * *

Connor had to physically struggle to refrain from letting out a long and frustrated groan. He had been dealing with his new French ally for two days now, and Connor had learned two things: he was overconfident, and he was overactive.

The man acted like he was a teenager, a very athletic, very dangerous teenager. Connor had never met anyone over twenty-five that still pulled ridiculous stunts for amusement. He had barely been in America for twenty four hours before he had managed to plant a stink bomb in Connor's room. He hadn't been paying attention and had found his sinuses filled with a putrid stench that far exceeded anything he had ever experienced in his life.

After finally ridding the room of the smell, he had found a small note in his desk stating that his _divine punishment_ had begun. It wasn't difficult to figure out that it was Arno, he was the only one with enough balls to even attempt something that would piss Connor off. Naturally, Connor had attempted to confront the man. But alas, he had no proof. He had no way to show that it truly was him, and what made it worse? The fact that they were technically equals. The little shit was untouchable.

Connor collapsed into the old oak chair behind his desk and ran his hands through his shoulder length black hair. He stared at the old wooden desk before him and sighed. As he stared at the old wooden surface, he focused his thoughts on more important matters.

Even with Arno's rather infuriating pastimes, he did good work. He had been able to inspect the mysterious Piece of Eden and managed to get it to react to his attempts at activating it. Unfortunately, it seemed as though it was nothing more than a glorified lamp, the only thing it did was give off a blindingly bright light until Arno finally placed it back upon the table from which he had retrieved it.

At the moment, Connor had left the room to regather his wits after being blinded for the twentieth time in a row. They had been at it for hours, with Arno still vigorously attempting to get the artifact to do anything at all besides glow. Honestly, Connor couldn't tell whether or not if this was actually just another way for Arno to get back at him, but he did seem serious enough, and Connor knew that Arno was a rather poor actor when he was being stared down by a trained killer. Letting out an annoyed grunt, Connor returned to his feet, there was still several hours before dusk arrived, and leaving Arno alone was often a poor decision when he had time to waste.

Taking long, tired steps across the old wooden floor, he made his way to the door and turned the shiny brass doorknob. After several more lumbering steps, and creaking wooden floorboards, he made his way to the room that had recently been dubbed the Examination Room by one Master Assassin Arno Dorian.

As he entered he noted the middle aged man with his right hand raised high with the golden object in his palm.

"Still no change?" Connor asked, even if he already knew what the answer would most likely be.

"I don't understand it!" Arno growled as he turned to face his colleague. "Nothing works! Nothing!"

Connor looked at his ally and took in his disheveled appearance. His hair was in a matted mess, and he obviously hadn't shaved since he had gotten to America. Normally smooth features were now contorted in frustration and impatience. Add to that his once finely detailed and intricate clothes were also wrinkled and loose and one could tell that he had been driving himself up a wall for multiple hours.

"Be calm," Connor replied in a calm and firm tone. "Patience is often the key to success."

"In case you haven't realized, I can only take so much patience before I begin to go stir-crazy." Arno snapped at his accomplice, now violently shaking the device that he held in his hands.

"Indeed, I have noticed. The stink bomb was a good indication." Connor replied in a humorless manor that showed he still didn't forgive Arno for the incident.

Arno simply grunted and began to look closely at each small line upon the artifact. Connor, curious as to what Arno was doing, moved to stand next to the Frenchmen and peered at the piece as well. As Arno ran his hand over one of the sides of the object he nearly had a heart attack when he heard a distinct click emanate from it. Nearly dropping the strange device, he watched in amazement as pieces began to shift and turn. In a matter of moments, what had once resembled some kind of disk, now took on the shape of a closed locket.

"Was that good or bad?" Connor asked, his voice filled with concern and confusion.

"I don't rightfully know, but there's only one way to find out," Arno replied as he raised the object back above his head.

After a few breathless seconds, the device began to give off its signature blinding light, but this time, there was a difference. This time, it lasted longer. But more importantly, it affected the two Assassins. They could feel the world around them begin to spin and, within a matter of seconds, they felt as if their entire bodies had become some form of mush. What came next though, was what they could only perceive as weightlessness for a few short moments before the blinding light finally receded.

Unfortunately though, when they were finally able to make heads or tails of their surroundings, they found things had changed… drastically.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, I know that this isn't where it's supposed to be, but no one has ever posted in the Assassin's Creed and Code Geass crossover genre except for one dude who was just offering to help people out. So I put it here instead. Please don't hate me. In other news, this chapter is basically just to let you get to know Arno and Connor and how the hell they ended up in the Code Geass universe… sort of. Anyway, I tried to make this story a little bit more detailed than the other one that I am currently working on so… yeah, let me know how that goes. Other than that, let me know what you think of the characters and if it interests you. Thank you, and till next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I do not own the cover image, nor the two series that of which this work of fiction is based on. They all go to their respective owners.**

* * *

They weren't where they were supposed to be, that much was obvious. The room that they had previously been standing in had been completely replaced by some form of large and ornate hallway. The floors that they stood on, which only moments before had been made of old wooden planks, now appeared to be made of a beautifully pristine marble floor so clean that the two Assassins could see their reflection upon its surface. The same went for the walls, they had been turned into fanciful stone that was covered into decadent tapestries, and banners.

It was obvious that they were somewhere important, every minute detail about their surroundings nearly shouted that whatever this building was, it was important.

"Well, it did something," Arno breathed as he took in the room and found himself thoroughly confused.

Connor, on the other hand, had already pushed his confusion aside and had begun scanning the hallway, and nearby rooms, for any form of danger using his Eagle Vision. What he found, he didn't like. The door directly in front of them had two guards standing at full attention and appeared to be holding some form of strange weapons. Not only that, but the other rooms were also locked, or equally well protected.

But there was still something even more worrying about what he saw. The door ahead was marked as a point of interest. No matter how much he didn't want to, he was going to have to open that door.

"Arno," Connor began, his voice becoming cold and calculative as he began to approach the large wooden doors. "What do you see directly ahead of you?"

As the Frenchman was pulled from his dazed state, he turned to look at Connor for only a moment before the question registered and he turned to stare at the door before them using his Eagle Vision. "Shit."

"Exactly," Connor replied. "I'll take the one on the right, you get the one on the left."

"Got it." Arno confirmed as he crouched and began to approach the door in almost perfect silence.

As one, the two opened the doors just enough to allow them entrance. They moved in perfect synchronization as they walked up to their respective targets and placed their right palms over the guard's abdomens, then their left hands over their mouths. Next, they ejected their hidden wrist blades into their opponent's mid-sections, and then removed them only seconds later before moving the bodies back behind the doors, and closing them.

Turning to the rest of the room, they found themselves at the back of a crowd of what looked to be either politicians, or noblemen. Each one wore ornate, and well-made clothes that showed their importance. The two glanced at each-other in silent confirmation before subtly making their way into the crowd. Making sure to stay close, the two activated their Eagle Visions and scanned the crowd for anyone of importance.

As they came to the front of the crowd, they found what they were looking for. A man, who sat upon a decadent throne that looked as if it had been made for god himself, and a young boy that appeared to be no older than ten who stood before him at the foot of the throne. The man, most likely some kind of ruler, seemed large and imposing with a chiseled jaw covered with a neatly trimmed beard. Upon his head was a powdered wig, much like the ones many of the other nobles in the room were currently wearing, His eyes were a rich purple and his clothes were obviously made to be the most intricate and imposing attire in any situation. His appearance ensured that no one could possibly mistake him for anything less than royalty and it said a lot about his character before he even said a word.

In contrast, the small boy had a rather angular face with ebony black hair atop his head. His clothes seemed to be a slightly less decadent version of that which the man wore, and he seemed almost inferior from his position at the bottom of the intricate set of steps that lead to the throne. The only thing the two seemed to share in common were their eyes which both held the same deep purple color.

"Hail father," The child began in a formal tone that held hints of anger. "My mother, Empress Marianne is dead"

"Old news, what of it?" the man, now confirmed as the Emperor of wherever Arno and Connor apparently were responded.

The boy's face contorted into an expression of outrage as he looked to his father. Arno and Connor looked to each other with raised eyebrows before returning to the scenario that continued to play out in front of the massive crowd of nobles.

"What of it?" The boy questioned, his rage easily heard in his tone.

"Did you request an audience with the Emperor of Britannia just to say that?" His father asked in a dis-interested tone that made the situation seem all the more cruel. "Bring in the next. I don't have time to play with children."

Arno cringed at the words, and Connor shook his head in disgust. Both Assassins had father issues, but this was just horrid.

"Father!" The boy shouted as he began to run towards the throne. Two guards ran to block his path, but were stopped by a wave of the Emperor's hand.

"Yes, your majesty!" The two shouted in unison as they returned to attention.

The boy, unperturbed by the showing of the guards, continued in utter fury. "Why did you not protect mother?!" He shouted loud enough for all those present to hear. "You are the Emperor are you not?! You are the greatest person in this country, are you not?! You should have been able to protect her! At the very least you could have visited Nunnally."

"I have no use for the weak." The man responded, keeping a cold, and uninterested look upon his face.

"The weak?" the boy questioned, unable to believe the words leaving his own father's mouth.

"That is the true nature of the Royal Family." The supposed "father" replied.

Arno and Connor, still watching from the crowd, couldn't believe what they were witnessing, neither knew what to make of it. They simply watched as the situation became more and more cruel as it was allowed to play out. The boy looked like he was prepared to break. His father had flat-out stated he had no need of the boy's sister, and that it was simply that things should be. "Then I don't need the right to succeed the throne." He said.

The Crowd let out a large gasp at the youth's words. The two Assassins found themselves equally ensnared by the scene.

"I've had enough of it!" The child continued in an outrage. "I won't succeed you, or get involved in any more conflicts!"

"You are dead," came the icy reply of the Emperor. "You have been dead since the day you were born. Who gave you those clothes that you wear on your back right now? Your home, your food, even your life. I am the one who gave those to you! In other words, you have not even once truly been alive! And yet you show such insolence?!"

As the monster of a man spoke, he rose from his chair with an expression of unkempt anger. His imposing, and furious visage terrified his child to the point of falling back on his back in unbridled terror for the creature before him.

"Lelouch." The monster continued, sneering at the boy. "A dead person like you has no rights. You will go to Japan with Nunnally. As Prince and Princess, you will be good trading material. Now send in the next one!" The monstrosity concluded before returning to his seat and preparing for his next appointment.

The child put up no fight as two guard grabbed him by the arms and began to whisk him away to make room for the next person that had an audience with the thing posing as a man.

Arno and Connor instinctively followed the boy and his escorts out of the room, knowing already that this child was going to be the focal point of whatever it was they were meant to do in this strange world. Making their way out of the crowd, and into the shadows in order to keep themselves out of the view of any wandering eyes. They continued to tale the guards as they made their way to the exit of the building.

Once the guards had made it outside, Arno and Connor proceeded to hide in the nearby shrubbery that was spread all over the massive front garden that would give Versailles a run for its money. They proceeded to tail the trio down the walkway for several moments, being sure to keep to a safe distance.

"So what's the plan?" Arno asked Connor, who was silently watching as the guards placed the boy in some strange shiny black metal carriage that seemed to be lacking horses.

Ignoring the strange sight for the time being, Connor replied, "We follow the child and keep him alive. He's definitely important."

"Really? What gave you that impression? The fact that he was highlighted as a PERSON OF INTEREST?!" Arno mocked, as they made their way to the back of the Carriage and opened a small compartment at its rear.

After ensuring that no one was in present to witness their actions, the two climbed inside and closed it as quietly as they were able.

"You do know if this is safe or not right?" Arno whispered to Connor as the contraption made a strange humming noise and began to move.

"Nothing we do is safe, we're Assassins." Connor replied as the car turned to the right and began to speed up.

"Oh, that's good, thanks for helping to calm my nerves." Arno said in a voice filled with sarcasm.

"Just shut up, and be still, we just have to wait until they get to the docks. Japan is on the other side of Asia, so they'll need to take a ship." Connor grunted out as Arno squirmed next to him in the confined space.

"Why is it that you insist on putting me in confined spaces for extended periods of time? What did I do to deserve such hell?" Arno whined.

They sat in uncomfortable silence within the small, cramped space for around twenty minutes before the carriage made a stop and finally became quiet.

"Were already there?" he asked, finally becoming still as the two listened to the opening, and closing of doors.

"I don't know," Connor answered as he re-opened the small space's door, allowing light to flood into the space. "But there's only one way to find out."

Exiting the compartment, the two lowered into crouching positions behind the carriage and begin to scan their surroundings. The carriage had apparently stopped on a large field that seemed to be made out of, from what Arno could tell, concrete. On the far side of the field was some form of strange two story building covered in massive windows. Then there was the metal fence which surrounded the field only about a foot away from the edge where the concrete was then replaced by desert. But what the two were most focused on, was what was upon the concrete field. Several more of the strange carriages were strewn all about the area and each one had it's own strange shape and size. People were moving about quickly, carrying and moving things about. Yet what caught the majority of the Assassin's attentions, was the large bird-like machine that lay in the center of all the other strange carriages, and people.

"What is that, and how the hell do you seriously expect me to trust it?" Arno whispered to Connor as they peered at the strange object.

Connor, without bothering to reply to his friend's pointless question, began to dash from carriage to carriage, making sure to stay well out of sight.

"That crazy bastard can't be serious," Arno mumbled as he moved to follow his compatriot.

As the two went along, using Eagle vision to keep tabs on anyone who might raise any alarms, Connor began to devise a plan as to how they would get aboard the mysterious craft. Looking at the machine from front to back, he took note of two entry points. The first of which, the two guards from the palace they had come from were using to get the boy into the thing, and the second where some type of luggage was being loaded on.

"There's our ticket on." Connor said as he pointed out the second entrance.

"If this thing kills me," Arno began angrily as Connor moved forward and knocked out the man who was loading the luggage, then proceeded to hide him in the back of a nearby carriage, "I'm dragging you to hell with me."

"Duly noted," Connor grunted as he began to push Arno up the ladder that led to the cargo area, "Now get in the damned thing before I have to drag you on board unconscious."

* * *

 **A/N: And so the deadly duo meet their newest ally, Just how exactly will this play out? find out next time at (not) the same murderous time, at the same murderous place! yay references! Any way, if you find this chapter to be too short, or not very well fleshed out, let me know. I tried to make Arno seem like he was way less okay with the whole "Don't know where we are" thing. Let me know if you enjoyed it, and leave a review... Please! Always use the magic words children. thanks, and see you soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

Note: The cover image, and both series that this story is based on, belong to their respective owners.

* * *

Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia didn't know what to make of it; not thirteen hours ago he had been standing before his father trying to make him take action in the wake of the death of the young prince's own mother. But the result of the confrontation had no such affect. Now, not even a day after their confrontation, the man had banished Lelouch and his horribly injured sister to Japan as political tools. The two had been taken to a personal jet in less than half an hour and had been whisked away without so much as a second thought from the Emperor.

Lelouch, sitting silently in his seat upon the small personal jet, glanced to his left to find his dear sister Nunnally still unconscious in the seat beside him. She had been paralyzed from the waist down, and traumatized to the point of losing the will to see the outside world during the attack on their mother. She seemed so pale, in fact everything about her seemed faded, like an old photo. Her light brown hair seemed to be closer to white than it had before, and her skin was the same color as a piece of paper.

She seemed so out of place in the large chair. The lush red fabric that it was made from was bright and vibrant, much like the rich butterscotch brown colored wood that made up the walls of the small space, while she seemed so colorless.

As Lelouch looked to her small, frail, form his sight began to grow blurry. It didn't take much to realize what it was. He had cried like this when he had first seen Nunnally the day she had been placed in intensive care immediately following the attack. He had simply sat beside her while silent tears filled his eyes.

He slowly wiped them away, and let out a shaky breath, before looking to the window at his right. It was dark outside and unsettling. The black nothingness made it seem like they were in some kind of suspended reality. He didn't like it. It felt as if that very black nothingness outside was about to creep into the plane and swallow the two children whole. The thought was terrifying and made Lelouch all the more scared.

"We will now be prepping for landing, all passengers please return to your seats and buckle up in preparation." Came the pilot's voice over the plane's internal speakers.

Lelouch shuddered at the thought of what might await himself and his sister on the ground below. He had no way of telling what it would be, but he knew one thing: He and Nunnally were alone in a foreign country with no one to protect them.

* * *

Kaneki Kurosaki slowly made his way into the small cargo compartment of the personal jet that had just landed at the Tokyo airport in order to retrieve the luggage that had been brought from, apparently, Britannia. No one really told him why an unscheduled royal jet had landed in Japan at close to midnight, and honestly? It wasn't his place to question it. In all likelihood it was some form of political nonsense that he probably wouldn't understand if he tried. Still, it was strange.

Kaneki made it into the cargo area and began to move the large suitcases closer to the exit in preparation of moving them to the small cart below. As he reached for the first bag, he heard a strange rustling from behind him and immediately turned around to figure out what the hell was in the space with him. Unfortunately, all he saw was brief glimpse of a hooded figure before being punched squarely in the gut, and passing out cold.

* * *

Arno quickly hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulder and moved him to the farthest wall of the small space that they occupied. Lowering him to the metal floor, He proceeded to crouch back down and quietly made his way to the side of the door leading outside. Across from him was Connor, who looked at Arno disapprovingly until Arno couldn't take it.

"What?" He questioned in a hushed tone, "he's fine, they'll find him later and wake him up no problem. It's not like I stabbed him to death."

"They'll get curious," Connor replied, "Who do you think is going to take their luggage now?"

Arno cursed under his breath before looking back to the unconscious man about five feet away. He was obviously of Asian descent, and his clothes were far less fanciful than those of either himself or Connor. But then something caught Arno's eye, the man's top had a hood and seemed to be about the same size as himself. Grinning triumphantly, he made his way over to the unconscious man and quickly began to swap clothes.

"What are you doing?" Connor questioned incredulously as he watched his friend begin disrobing.

"Blending in." Arno grunted as he pulled on the other man's pants. "You know, hide in plain sight?"

Connor sighed and began to take up Arno's clothes and the equipment that he couldn't conceal. Tossing the extra items into a duffel bag that he found nearby, he returned to his position by the door and waited patiently for Arno. Moments later, the two were back by the exit. One still wearing his brotherhood robes and one now wearing long, baggy, trousers and a black hoody.

"So how do you intend to trick a group of people that you can't even understand?" Connor asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'm not," Arno replied confidently as he grabbed two suitcases and began to exit the craft with his head lowered and hood up, "I'm just testing a theory at the moment. You keep an eye on the boy, I'll catch up"

Connor remained in the craft for a few extra moments before peering out to get a feel for his surroundings. The area nearly mirrored the one that they had just come from with only minor differences. The strange horseless carriages were still present, along with the mysterious building in the distance. What wasn't the same, though, was the fact that the Carriages, and the building were now giving off constant beams of light that Connor couldn't possibly hope to explain at the moment, along with the much more abundant plant life that surrounded this strange "concrete", as Arno had called it, field. A neat field of grass surrounded the space instead of the desert that had been at the last location and then was replaced by a forest of small trees a bout fifty feet later.

Being certain to remain out of sight, Connor made his way down the ramp that led to the ground below the contraption he was in, and hid behind the nearest Carriage. Looking over the top of his cover, the assassin activated his Eagle Vision and began to search for the child that they had followed on-board the strange bird-like machine. Moving silently from cover to cover, Connor swiped left to right until finally seeing the distant shine of two golden figures and their escorts about half way towards the building. He recognized the boy immediately, and then took in the sight of the small girl who was sitting in a chair with wheels on it.

"The sister," Connor whispered, recalling the fight the boy had with his father.

Filing away the fact that there were now two targets to keep track of, Connor quickly began to follow. He moved from shadow to shadow, making certain to stay out of any of the bright lights that emanated from the front of the Carriages. Slowly but surely, He gained ground on the targets until he encountered a problem…

The targets had entered the building and, unfortunately for Connor, Were going through some form of checkpoint that seemed armed to the teeth, and held some form of alarm system within arm's length of each guard. He couldn't just simply waltz through in the outfit he was currently wearing, and he wasn't about to try to go in with his sword held high. He ground his teeth together in frustration before something came to mind.

"Blend in…"Connor mumbled before turning to look at a nearby pedestrian that, thanks to the slightly chilly climate, was wearing a hooded jacket. "Well, I guess I'll have to give Arno credit for this one."

* * *

Arno calmly walked towards the building directly ahead, guessing that it was the most likely place for a bag boy to go, and made sure to keep his head down to ensure that those around him would be unable to see his face from beneath his hood.

He glanced around, looking for any kind of indication as to where he should go, and decided that simply walking with a purpose was his best bet. As he came up to the side of the large building, he opened a small, rusty side door that seemed as inconspicuous as he was going to get. Making his way inside, He found himself in a small hallway consisting of a smooth tiled floor, and white brick walls.

"They may figure out that something's wrong," Arno whispered to himself as he made his way down the corridor, passing several unsuspecting workers, "but at least I have a good disguise now."

As he reached the end of the hallway, he found himself before a pair of bright red doors. Activating his Eagle Vision, he opened the door and walked into the next room. Far off to his right was what appeared to be some form of checkpoint filled with guards. All around him were sets of generic chairs that seemed to have been bolted into more polished tiles like the ones in the hallway from before. The walls, however, were replaced by smoothed out surfaces that Arno had never seen before. Then, finally, to his left was a hallway connected to the left side of the room. His senses were able to pick up two golden silhouettes just around a corner to his left. He, much like Connor, took note of their newest addition to their little chase, and her confinement to a chair with wheels attached to its sides.

"Well there's prince charming and dear Rapunzel," Arno joked as he looked at the shape of the boy they had followed and who he assumed was his sister. "Now where is Connor?"

"Closer than you would think." Came a sudden reply from behind him.

Arno instinctively spun to face the newcomer, raising his hands in preparation of any possible attack, only to find himself face to face with Connor himself, now also adorning unsuspecting clothes akin to Connor's own, along with a large duffel bag. "Christ man, don't do that!"

"Come, we need to keep up with the children." He said, passing Arno and moving to tail the children as they were taken towards another exit.

"Right," Arno agreed, quickly falling into step behind Connor after leaving the suitcases he had been carrying next to an empty chair, "Nice outfit by the way."

"Very funny," Connor shot back as he continued his pursuit.

"So what's the plan this time?" Arno asked as the two exited the building and found themselves surrounded by random civilians as they went about their business. The pair watched as the children were taken to another of the horseless carriages. "We can't just hop in like we did last time, there's too many witnesses."

Connor stood still for a moment, watching as the two little figures entered the car. He watched as one of the people that had been guiding the young royals took up the small wheelchair the girl had been sitting in and folded it neatly before storing it within the rear compartment. Sighing in defeat, he realized that they had no real way to continue their investigation for the time being.

"We'll have to let them go for now." Connor answered finally, frowning as he began to slowly stroll down the street to his left.

"What if something happens to them?" Arno asked, following his companion. It was obvious he didn't exactly like leaving the safety of the two youths to fate. Still, he could see the logic in cutting their losses.

"We just have to hope they'll be safe until we can find them again." He sighed as he watched the car with their charges drive away. "For now, we need to figure out how things work in this strange world."

"Easier said than done," Arno scoffed, "but it's better than just blindly running around without a clue."

"Glad we're in agreement," Connor managed as he stifled a yawn. He could already feel fatigue begin to set in after the day's hellish chain of events that left no room for respite. "First things first, we need somewhere to sleep, agreed?"

"Agreed." Arno moaned through a yawn of his own.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: The cover image, along with the two series that of which this story is based on belong to their respective owners. Also, words like _THIS_ are a character's inner thoughts.

* * *

"Oh Prince charming!" Came the sickeningly sweet voice of the bane of Lelouch Vi Britannia's mornings for the past six months: Arno Dorian. The young prince groaned as he slowly turned over within the covers of his bed. "You know I'm not going to give up." The bastard called again as he made his way across the room to…

 _Oh no._ Lelouch thought, already knowing exactly what the son of a bitch was planning.

With a loud swish, the sliding door of the small traditional Japanese room opened to reveal the blinding light of early morning.

"I will burn you alive."Lelouch groaned as he tossed himself over to face the other wall.

"Oh don't be such a sour puss my dear prince," Arno replied cheerfully as he made his way over to the bed located at the center of the room. "I have already prepared your morning meal, and your friend Suzaku has today off from his traditional training. He wanted to show you and the beautiful princess something."

"Really?" Lelouch asked, feigning interest, "Well… In that case… Get out."

Arno sighed as he watched the child throw the covers over his head, obscuring him from view. "Must you fight me every morning? We get along so well when you're fully awake, why oh why are you so hateful to your loving butler when his only hope is to ensure that his master wakes up in time for his daily appointments?"

"Because," The child replied in a muffled voice, "unlike my beloved butler, I hate mornings. So if you would be so kind as to comply with my request, I would very much appreciate the gesture."

"Very well," Arno replied, his voice filled with fake disappointment, "I suppose I shall return the chess board to the cupboard." He made certain to give out an exasperated sigh as he began to make a loud trudge towards the door. It didn't take more than two steps before he received the response he knew would be coming.

"Wait!" Lelouch cried out, jumping into a sitting position.

"Yes?" Arno grinned as he remained facing the door so as to hide the victorious expression. He had learned early on that a game of chess was like a drug to the boy. He loved the game almost as much as his sister. Only a day after he became the boy's servant, the child had asked if he knew how to play and almost cried tears of joy at the news. Apparently the Kururugi family had no clue how to play the game, and Nunnally, being blind, had no hope to put up a fight either. But as luck would have it, Arno had been quite the opponent for the child. Now, he could say jump and the prince would reply how high. It helped immensely when the child was especially uncooperative, mostly in the mornings.

"A full game?" Lelouch probed, he hated when he couldn't complete a game, and it nagged at him for hours until he could finally return to the board. Arno suspected that chess was something of a way for him to feel like he had real control, something the boy never had as a prince so far behind in a power struggle for the throne. It made Arno sick, the idea that America had been replaced with a tyrannical monarchy where the royal family slit one another's throats for the ability to control the most powerful country in the world.

"Of course." Arno answered, spinning around and giving his most theatrical bow. "I will be awaiting your arrival my prince."

Lelouch looked at Arno, and saw the playful smile that adorned his rugged, slightly weathered face. He wore his shoulder length brown hair back in a neat ponytail, and his three piece suit with golden trim and complimenting gold tie were perfectly ironed. His shoes were a shiny black with no tarnishes to be seen, and the fanciful white gloves upon his hands completed the look. He gazed into Arno's green eyes that shined with a devious glint and smiled from ear to ear. "I'll be right there!"

As the child hopped from the bed, throwing the sheets to the other end of the room in his haste, Arno gave a small chuckle and made his way out into the hallway, his feet making a small click with each step on the polished wooden floor. He walked down to the small room the two would be using while eating the morning meal, and sat at the small table that had been made of fine oak which was stained a dark chocolate brown.

As he did so, Arno checked to make certain that he had not forgotten anything that the two would need for their meal. Originally, Arno had eaten his meals at home well before coming to see to Lelouch's needs each morning. However, after being offered a place at the table by the child one morning when his stomach growled, it soon became a daily routine thanks to the boy's admittance of much preferring the more relaxed situation.

"Plates? Check. Silverware? Check. Food? Check. Tea? Check. Chessboard and pieces? Check." Arno muttered as he looked over the meal he had prepared and placed on the fanciful plates that the Kururugis had provided, along with western style eating utensils (always a good thing when you had never used chopsticks in all twenty eight years of your life). After looking at the impressive display of sunny side up eggs, accompanied by crisp toast and bacon; he gazed at the beautiful chess set that had been prepared off to the side. The board had been made from a beautiful piece of mahogany wood, and the pieces had been crafted from ebony pieces for black, and ivory pieces for white. He had purchased the set only days after his first clash with Lelouch in the game. He figured that if they were going to be facing off with the game of kings, then why not play on a board fit for a king? Besides, the Joyous expression that Lelouch made when he had first seen the set made it completely worth it.

"Speak of the devil," Arno said smiling as he heard the telltale sound of feet hitting the hallway floor getting closer and closer.

"I call black!" Lelouch bellowed with childish glee as he entered the room and dropped into a sitting position on the other side of the table. He wore an all-black silk outfit with a perfectly white blouse sticking out from beneath a black over coat. His lower half was covered by dress pants much like Arno's own with matching shoes as the finishing touch.

"Who am I to deny such a proud commander the right to choose his troops?" Arno asked in the best rendition of Napoleon he could do. Being around the general for years had allowed Arno to gain the ability to impersonate the man. While it was originally just a way for Arno to get under the prideful bastards skin, it served as a very good way to entertain Lelouch and his friends when they played.

"Ah," Lelouch began, taking up a commanding tone of his own, "But in war, one must exploit every opportunity one has."

"Perhaps," Arno replied, returning to his normally playful and charming tone, "so, why not tell me how Nunnally is? I'm certain that a loving elder brother such as yourself made certain to keep her safe after I had retired for the day."

"She's fine," Lelouch answered after finishing a bite of eggs, "I told her a bedtime story before I sent her to sleep."

"Ah," Arno said, smiling happily at the boy's loving tendencies, "How nice of you your highness. I apologize that I didn't have the chance to stay until your bed time last night."

"It's okay," Lelouch answered as he smiled back at Arno, "besides, I always love spending time with her. I could never be upset about taking care of her."

After the small exchange, the two focused on their meals as they sat in a comfortable silence. The two would need plenty to talk about throughout their game of chess. In all likelihood, it would last at least two hours before either would be decided as the winner. Their talks usually fell on interesting subjects too, which was always a plus. In fact, Arno had learned a great deal about the young boy's many beliefs which always seemed to be the exact opposite of what his father proclaimed. Instead of supporting the tyrannical style of rule that his father used, the boy believed that the people of his country deserved better. And what's more? The boy was well on his way to being capable of realizing his ideals. Even at the young age of ten, He was extremely well versed in the politics of his home country, so much so that Arno often had to stop Lelouch in the middle of conversations and ask him to explain some of the complex topics that the boy seemed to understand as if they were the most simple of subjects.

It only showed just how important protecting the child would be. He was most likely the only real hope of stopping the oppressive and controlling government that the rest of the royal family seemed so intent on using. It seemed as if every moment that Arno spent in the young prince's presence only made it clearer that keeping him safe was of the utmost importance.

But of course, they were a long way from being perfectly safe. After losing track of the children around a year ago at the airport, Arno and Connor had immediately begun to look for clues as to where, and more importantly when, they were. After multiple days of aimlessly walking around Tokyo, a town that the two had originally believed had been made by magic on a count of their lack of knowledge about the advancements in technology, they had happened upon a man who caught Arno ranting in French about their lack of basic necessities such as food and shelter. As luck would have it, the man was actually an ambassador from the European Union. Naturally, the man took the two assassins to their embassy building in order to receive help. Finally among people who spoke their languages, the two had learned a great deal. Especially after they learned about the internet. The memory of having all the knowledge in the world right at his fingertips for the first time brought a devilish grin to Arno's face (and the memory of a terrified one on Connor's)

While their first objective was making use of the internet to understand just where they ended up, the two had then begun a long and grueling search on how to make themselves blend into modern society. Forging fake identifications, as well as diplomas and family records using less then legal means, the two managed to integrate themselves into the modern world, while also getting a bead on their two charges. Arno, using his knowledge of western society, and natural charm, managed to land himself a job as Lelouch's personal butler while Connor focused on creating contacts for the two of them to use in case of emergency. The two had been doing quite well really, after about a year of preparing, the two had enough fire power to arm a full platoon of soldiers, and a heavy duty hummer for transportation to boot.

Unfortunately, even with all the progress the two had made, they were still far from ready to do much more than keep the children safe. It didn't make it easier that they had recently added the young Suzaku Kururugi to the list of youths now under the protection of the two master assassins. And to top it all off was the fact that, from what Connor had collected from a reformist sympathizer in Britannia, the emperor was moving his army in preparation for war. The intended target was obvious though, a mysterious resource called Sakuradite, which Britannia used in the creation in the majority of its modern equipment, was found here in Japan. Knowing his luck, Arno expected the hammer to drop any moment, especially with the completion of Britannia's knew toy: The Knightmare Frame, or KMF for short. The damned things were monsters, and no one had any way to stop them.

As Arno began to ponder ways to bolster the ranks of the essentially non-existent brotherhood in order to have a chance of making it through the highly likely event of Japan falling under the control of Britannia, he felt his phone ring in his pocket. Pulling out the device and placing it to his ear he answered with a courteous "hello" only to hear the words that spelled out the realization of every fear that Arno had just been imagining.

"Britannia made their move." Connor said making Arno freeze. "It's begun."

* * *

Arno's reaction was really what one would expect in the situation. He had immediately canceled his chess match with Lelouch and sent him to retrieve his sister while Arno himself went to find Suzaku. The boy had befriended Lelouch several months prior to Arno's arrival as the boy's servant, and it seemed as though the two were almost perfect companions. While one was strong and brave, the other was clever and confidant. They were everything the other lacked, and it made them nearly unstoppable whenever the two decided to cause mischief. Arno himself had been caught in the line of fire during one of their little plans and as a result, ended up with neon pink hair for almost two months. He cared for Lelouch like the son he never had, but the little shit was downright evil when he wanted to be.

Breaking into a full sprint towards the office of Genbu Kururugi, Suzaku's father, the man passed room after room in a blur until he began to hear what sounded like shouting. Stopping in order to hear the voice better, Arno immediately squatted down and began to move as silently towards the source as possible when he realized just what the subject matter of the conversation was.

"Damn those Britannian fucks to hell!" Came the hoarse voice of Genbu Kururugi. The man had obviously been shouting for a while, and as he spoke, his rage only seemed to intensify. "They send me the two remaining children in the Vi Britannia line in exchange for trade rights for Sakuradite only to invade us a year later! You'll pay dammit! Do you hear me Charles!? You'll pay in blood you Darwinist son of a bitch!"

"Father please!" Arno heard Suzaku beg with his father as the man could be heard rummaging through what sounded like cabinets.

"Silence Suzaku!" Genbu screeched at the child, eliciting a small yelp from the boy. "I'll kill those little monsters that he gave me! I'll make him watch his own blood ooze from his children's throats, and then? Then we'll fight tooth and nail for every inch of Japanese soil!"

Arno had reached the door that lead into the office where Genbu resided and activated his Eagle Vision to see…

"No!" Arno yelled as he burst into the room trying to stop the inevitable. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl as Arno saw every detail of the tragic event playing out right before his eyes. Suzaku, at the age of ten years old, with a look of pure fear upon his face, had planted a ceremonial blade in his own father's back. Blood slowly began to stain the protruding blade a deep crimson red as Genbu stood perfectly still, his face displaying his pure disbelief at what his own son had done to him. As a dark splotch began to appear around the wound, Genbu turned to stare directly into his son's eyes. The child shook uncontrollably as he watched his father crumple into a heap on the ground.

He remand completely silent as he fell to his knees before the dead man he had called father. Arno, knowing that the boy was probably near the breaking point of his sanity, immediately went to him. "Suzaku! Suzaku look at me!" Arno pleaded as he wrapped the boy within his arms and looked into his trembling eyes.

"He, he was going to hurt Nunnally and Lelouch." Suzaku mumbled in a quiet, unbelieving voice. "I c- I couldn't-"

"Shhh," Arno said, patting the boy's head, "listen to me Suzaku, I know that you're very scared right now, and I know that you panicked and only did what you thought was right. But we need to go. This place, it isn't safe."

"But- but my fath-" Suzaku began, tears finally beginning to fill his eyes as the reality of what had happened finally began to set in.

"Suzaku!" Arno whispered forcefully into his ear, "If you stay here then when the Britannians come you'll die!"

Suzaku looked at the man, his eyes wide and leaking tears and said exactly what he felt. "I deserve to die."

Arno's jaw clenched as he realized just how bad the incident had harmed the child, so much so that he most likely would never be the same. For now though, he had to make sure he lived. They could assess his mental state later. He had to convince him to follow him. So he said the only thing that came to mind. "What about Lelouch? What about Nunnally? What will I tell them? That you wanted to die? Don't give me that! You won't be able to help them if you die, you'll only hurt them! Do you want to hurt them!? Do you!?"

Suzaku seemed to react to that, Arno could see the boy's inner determination flare as he imagined the grief his death would cause his friends. "You're right… I need to survive, I- I can't cause them pain."

"Yes! Exactly!" Arno agreed full heartedly as he rose to his feet and began to drag the child along by the hand. "Come quickly now, we need to go!"

The two turned and began to run back in the direction that Arno had come from, hearing as sirens began to sound in the distance. _Damn! They got here already?_ Arno thought angrily as the two reached the small room that Arno and Lelouch had been sitting in enjoying a peaceful morning only thirty minutes ago. As the two waited impatiently in the room for Nunnally and Lelouch, and Arno began to hear the distant sound of explosions coming from the direction of downtown Tokyo,

 _Come on! We need to get out front so we can get moving as soon as Connor gets here!_ Arno mentally cried as the explosions gradually grew louder and louder.

Just as the first bomb connected with the far side of the old house, Lelouch turned the corner into the room pushing Nunnally in her wheelchair, still wearing her frilly white night gown. They looked utterly terrified, but safe.

"Come on! We're moving." Arno commanded sternly as he replaced Lelouch behind the Wheelchair and immediately headed for the front of the building with the two boys in tow. The small group ran as fast as possible as the world around them seemed to fall apart. Rooms and walls turned to splinters, and the sound of smashing glass could be heard all throughout the house as they reached the front of the building. then, when they headed down the steps, they looked on in sheer horror while surrounding landscape became a perfect representation of the deepest pits of hell. Massive craters were strewn across the property and the house was set ablaze in several places. The surrounding neighborhood fared no better, the street was a cracked mess while houses collapsed from the destructive onslaught. People ran in all directions screaming bloody murder, and cars collided all along the two lane road. As if to complete the nightmare, the trees that had been planted beside the sidewalk, once filled with lush green leaves,were all now nothing more than giant torches.

The smell of burning, and smoke filled Arno's nostrils as he looked from left to right for any sign of Connor, but the massive crowds of people obstructed his view. He growled to himself as the only thing he could do was stand and wait for his ally's arrival.

While the bombs continued to fall all around them, the children all began to cry from terror and despair as Arno continued to watch for the large black Hummer that Arno and Connor had procured for just this kind of situation. After several more minutes of continued bombing from their areal attackers, the explosions stopped abruptly. Normally, this would be good, But Arno knew better than to simply assume that their plight was over.

He looked to the sky and saw the massive formation of bombers slowly flying away in the air. They had completed their pass and seemed to be turning to leave as Anti-Aircraft shells exploded all around them. _No, something's off. They wouldn't just do one pass and leave, there's something else, something like-_ Before Arno could complete the thought, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw some of the large carrier planes begin to drop something other than bombs: land units.

A wide assortment of Knightmares and foot troops began to descend towards the ground all around Tokyo like fallen angels descending to the surface to wreak hellish punishment upon the Japanese. "Something like that." Arno growled under his breath just as he saw a squad of four footmen land around the corner from the house.

"Kids! Get inside, and stay hidden." Arno commanded as he pulled out two silenced sub machine guns from somewhere beneath the coat of his suit. The children, already scared and knowing that anywhere was safer than out in the open, scrambled back into the house and disappeared into the first room that they came across.

"Now," Arno said as he began marching down the street in the direction of the Britannian troopers that landed a block away. "Let's see what happens when the mouse falls into the eagle's nest."

* * *

A/N: Ohhhh shit! Arno is about to kick some Britannian ass! But not this time, because I wanted a cliff hanger. Sue me. Anyway, how do you think I handled the time skip? I wanted to get straight into the part where Arno and Connor started to really take the kids under their wing. Next chapter we get Connor back, and the group is gonna make their escape from the Britannians, as always, thanks for reading, and please… REVIEW!


	5. Chapter 5

Note: The cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.

* * *

Reginald Panzer was more than just excited, he was ecstatic. He had been waiting to get a taste of action for months! He joined the military to finally get a chance at climbing the social ladder in Britannia. Commoners never got shit when it came to opportunities. Minimum wage, or military. That was really all you got. But in the military, if you did well enough you had a chance to improve your standing. And when you spent the majority of your childhood watching nobles party their nights away, and all the speeches about how positions like those were only for those who were strong enough to take that power for yourself, you eventually got to the point where you would start to believe it. So, with your options being living in poverty, or fighting for a spot in the nobility, you fought. Reginald being Reginald obviously did at least.

Originally, he wanted to join the KMF armor division, but apparently one had to have a degree in engineering in order to be able to maintain one's personal unit. But still, doing things the old fashioned way wasn't too bad either, especially when you had the opportunity Reginald and his squad mates had.

He didn't know what the Vi Brittanians did, and honestly? With what they were offering for their heads, it didn't matter. The strong survived, it's what the Emperor said, it's what the nobles said, and it's what generals like the famous master of the arms Patton said. And they had the wealth to prove it. So when you and your squad got noble titles and plots of land for killing two unarmed kids that were ten and younger, you took the offer without question.

So here he was, in the suburbs on the outskirts of Tokyo making his way through one of the trashed buildings that could have been a convenience store or could have been a candy store. Didn't matter now since the fifty first air division had dropped a bomb on it. Boxes with kanji and colorful pictures all over them were scattered all over the floor with pieces concrete accompanied by chunks of splintered wood from crumbling walls and demolished roof.

He walked down one of the only isles left standing and scanned the far wall for movement. The group had decided to move separately to cover more ground on their way to the Kururugi household. so Reginald was alone and didn't want to have to worry about being caught with his pants down so to speak so he decided that only having to worry about what was directly in front of him, and what was directly behind him was his best bet. Apparently, he was wrong as he watched in horror when a grenade was tossed over the wooden wrack to his left and landed directly at his feet.

* * *

"Oh shit," was all that Arno heard before the wrack exploded into splinters.

"One down," the assassin whispered as he melted back into the shadows behind a large chunk of wall off to the right of the front door.

He wasted no time moving to the exit and opening the door. Once outside, he looked to his immediate right and found a steel pipe going from the ground all the way up to the roof of the two-story building. Scaling it quickly, Arno made sure to stay as close to the edge as possible so as to make sure that what was left of the roof didn't give in under the extra weight. Quickly activating his Eagle vision, he located the second target in the building next door. He ran to the next building and promptly hopped across the small gap between the two structures. Arno chalked it up to pure luck when he found that this building had been spared by the bombings that had occurred moments ago. The roof was mostly barren though, save for a small door leading to a stairwell that lead all the way to the first floor. Reactivating his Eagle Vision, his prey lit up in bright red on the second floor.

Unfortunately, his vision didn't tell him much else so he would have to stay alert in case there was something that he hadn't caught. Moving down the steps, he knelt down and made sure to make virtually no noise as he exited the stairwell into a small hallway. The guard appeared to be about two doors down on the left. He obviously wasn't as cautious as his comrade had been. Arno watched as the silhouette of the guard rested the gun on his shoulder and began to rummage through something Arno couldn't see with his sixth sense.

"Amateur," Arno muttered as he made his way to the opened door. He peered in and found the idiot looking through a jewelry cabinet at the far end of the room. He moved behind the man and placed the palm of his right hand at the base of his skull. The hidden blade on his wrist quietly entered the man's spine, killing him in seconds and then returned to its sheath a moment later.

Before the body had even hit the floor, Arno was moving to the door. "Two down," Arno said to himself as he turned to the right and returned to the stairwell. "These bozos are easier to take than I thought."

He made his way back to the roof and looked out across the street to see where the last two had gone. He took note of his third victim making their way down the sidewalk with what looked to be a shotgun at the ready. "Fat lot of good that will do you," Arno said as he pulled out a pistol and smoothly placed a bullet in the man's head. He then returned the weapon to its hidden holster and moved to the side of the building he was standing on.

Unfortunately, as he prepared to make his way to the ground, a loud shot rang out through the air. Instinctively dropping to his stomach near the edge of the roof, Arno activated his Eagle vision and found that the last target was currently running down the street in the direction of the Kururugi residence as quickly as his feet would take him. "Throwing caution to the wind are we?" Arno called out as he scrambled to his feet in hot pursuit.

The trooper chose not to respond as he sprinted to the house. He stumbled on rubble, and other debris all along his rout. Meanwhile, Arno hopped from roof to roof in quick succession with much less difficulty. Just as the man had reached the front door, Arno dropped from the roof of the neighboring building with his pistol redrawn. The soldier, one hand on the door, and his rifle lowered, stared at Arno. His face was obscured by a large grey gas mask, so Arno couldn't see the man's face, but he could already tell the guy was on the verge of pissing himself when his hands shakily moved to raise the gun in Arno's direction.

"You haven't got a chance in hell of hitting me, and you know it." Arno growled at the trooper as he watched the rifle shake all over the place. Arno smirked as his opponent slowly walked backwards in fear at the challenge.

"They were supposed to be unguarded," the goon called out in a shaky voice.

"They're guarded," Arno said as he raised the pistol and ended the man with a single shot.

* * *

To be quite frank, Lelouch Vi Britannia was utterly and completely terrified. Nunnally was crying beside him in her wheelchair as they sat in the corner of a dark room filled with shattered pots, and broken furniture. Suzaku was kneeling in front of the young princess and trying to calm her down and Lelouch sat making up escape plans in case Arno didn't come back. Lelouch liked the butler, but he wouldn't put it past anyone with a brain to realize that staying with Lelouch and Nunnally was like painting a giant target on their back. They were tools for their father to use at his leisure, and the fact that the house had been bombed well before foot troops moved into the city could only mean one thing: Charles didn't need bargaining chips anymore. He needed a symbol for the people; he needed martyrs.

Lelouch could see it now, "The death of Lelouch and Nunnally Vi Britannia cannot be ignored! We will have our vengeance!"

He gave out a small laugh, which sounded more like a sob, and stared at the door. The trio had heard a gunshot not long ago, and it was loud. He knew it wouldn't be long before either Arno returned, or the children died inside a burning building. In reality, Lelouch didn't plan on them surviving this. He knew that even if they had run for it immediately after Arno left, the chances of survival were slim to none. And so, Lelouch simply sat waiting for his fate to be decided for him again, just like he always did. What his father said was so painfully true when Lelouch thought about where he was right now. He was dead. No matter how he looked at his existence he had done nothing but sit and play around with either his siblings, or play chess. Everything of importance had never been in his hands, not once. And now? It probably never would. Not once had he ever truly been alive. He was just a lifeless puppet to be done with as he pleased.

It was probably why he sympathized with reformists. He and his sister were the weakest links of the strongest family in Britannia. They were looked down on, and ultimately treated like pawns. Judged by the nobility, and even their own father as less than people. Even more so thanks to their mother originally being a commoner before she was recognized by Charles for her capability as a soldier. If Lelouch had it his way, the entire government would have been turned on its head, but with his father on the throne, it would never happen. Now, his adopted home was destroyed, and the closest thing he ever had to a loving father figure was either scared off or dead. The people of Japan would be essentially enslaved, and the Vi Britannia line would be shot by some desperate commoner who was willing to do anything to make it into the nobility.(even if they were probably going to get shot so they couldn't tell anyone how they had even become a noble so quickly in the first place.)

The three heard the sound of footsteps hitting the hallway floor outside and all immediately became completely silent as they stopped directly in front of the door.

"Oh prince charming!" Arno called as if the world wasn't ending right outside, "how fares the beautiful Rapunzel and her knight and shining Armor?"

Lelouch just stared at the man in utter shock. "You came back?" He asked, ignoring the man's question.

"What kind of Butler would leave his master in a situation like this?" Arno replied, acting as if the question had physically wounded him.

"One that want's to live!" Lelouch cried out, rising to his feet and stomping over to the man. "Nunnally and I are doomed! You have no obligation to protect us, and even if you succeed you won't get paid anyway!"

"I didn't protect you for money dear prince," Arno said, putting on a face of determination that Lelouch had never seen. "I protected you because I care about your wellbeing. Even if the royalty and nobility are a bunch of bloodthirsty snakes, there are still people who have basic human beliefs. Leaving children to be murdered is something I will not allow."

"No," Lelouch said, his anger rising, "there's more. There's always more."

Arno looked at the boy for a moment while Nunnally and Suzaku watched the exchange from the corner. He seemed to reach a decision about something and then lowered himself to one knee so his eyes were level with Lelouch's own.

"I have not been completely honest with you my boy," Arno began. Lelouch was about to speak when he raised his hand for silence and then continued. "I am not a butler, and I am not doing this because it's my job. I have been following you and your sister because you are the only hope this world has at becoming a better place. Unlike all the other members of the Royal family, you two aren't obsessed with power. You understand how it feels to be weak, to be powerless. And that is exactly the kind of people who deserve to rule, those who can relate to their subjects. There was once a man who said that the people do not serve the king, the king serves the people and I believe that you will become a man that can serve the people."

Lelouch thought about what Arno had said. He looked so very serious, but even Lelouch could play a part. He was young, but he was by no means gullible. Still, he hadn't killed him yet, and he had plenty opportunities to do so. Not to mention, he was the closest thing to a parent he had left. Besides, Arno was the best hope that the children had, and that was enough for now. Before they did anything though, he had some questions for his protector.

"If you're not a butler, then who are you?" The child asked, but it wasn't Arno who answered.

"He is a child in a man's body," came a deep voice from the doorway. The children all tensed on instinct, but Arno simply sighed.

"You know just how to ruin the moment don't you?" Arno said, turning to face the man who Lelouch and the other kids had never met. "Where were you while I was taking out those paratroopers anyway?"

"Consider it payback for duck taping an air horn to the bottom of my computer chair." He replied triumphantly. "And to answer your question, I was avoiding the panicking masses outside." Arno simply groaned and turned to the kids.

"What my colleague meant to say before," Arno began, glaring at his companion a moment before returning his gaze to the three, "was that we are what remains of an organization dedicated to bringing about peace and freedom through covert means."

"We have operated for hundreds of years in the shadows trying to protect the world from tyrants like your father." Connor continued after Arno finished his statement. "Long ago, our influence stretched all throughout the world, working towards someday realizing our dreams for a better world."

The three children listened as the two explained the goals of their organization, but two questions remained, "so what was this group called, and what were the two of you to it?" Lelouch asked, almost impatiently.

The two adults looked at each other for a minute before the mystery man who had come in second stepped forward. "We were known as the Assassin's Brotherhood," he began, "I am Master Assassin Connor Kenway."

"And I'm Master Assassin Arno Dorian." Arno said, puffing out his chest, as if he were an action hero.

Lelouch stared at the two silently for a moment as his mind attempted to understand just what the hell kind of joke the two were pulling; assassins acting as the personal guards of two royal family members? Apparently Nunnally was having the same problem of understanding what the two meant when they said they were assassins. "So… you're here to kill us after all?" She asked, obviously confused.

Arno just smiled and knelt before the little girl. "No my sweet Rapunzel, it's just a name," he said fondly as he brushed a stray hair from her face. "We do far more than assassinations. For now, we simply want to aid you in your time of need."

"Listen, I understand we still have plenty to explain," Connor called out as he turned towards the door, "but there's still a war outside, and we aren't exactly safe in the middle of a battlefield."

They were right. Lelouch knew they were right, and no matter how he looked at it they were their best chance of survival, assassins or not. "You're right," he agreed, "let's get out of here."

* * *

It hadn't taken the group long to get out on the road. And the black hummer that the Assassin's had brought was fairly spacious. Even with all of the equipment that had been placed in the back didn't really bother the children. Not physically anyway. The trunk had been filled with crates filled with ammo and, at least, twenty rifles accompanied by smaller fire arms and to finish it off; two identical missile launchers with several missiles for each. The most bizarre part of it all was that it was packed so perfectly that it all fit neatly behind the back seat.

Suzaku for his part, had been so caught up with the new information about Arno and Connor along with all of the other excitement that he had almost completely forgotten about his father. It may seem horrible, but the way things were playing out made it very hard to stop and really dwell on anything that had happened thus far. He was only ten, and he had gotten bombarded with things he couldn't possibly comprehend almost immediately after murdering his own father out of fear for the lives of his two best friends.

But now, with the group away from the majority of the fighting thanks to Connor's little "detours" off of the roads (and through some of the smaller buildings) it was all starting to really get to him. He hadn't started crying over the death, but he was certainly morning. He simply stared blankly at the back of the seat in front of him and allowed his mind to wander. He could still see it, every horrid detail, and he could hardly stand it. He was watching the blade all over again as it slid into his father's flesh. It moved painfully slow as it sank deeper, and deeper… He did that. He killed his own father and-

"Suzaku?" Arno called from the front seat, breaking him from his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

The boy jumped as he looked up to the mirror in the top center of the front windshield to find concerned green eyes looking at him. It was obvious that Arno already knew what the boy had been thinking about. But he couldn't talk about it here, not in front of everyone else. If he could help it, he would ensure that no one else ever knew. The fact that he had murdered his own father, his own flesh and blood. Only Arno could know that he had committed such a sin.

"Yeah," the child replied timidly, "I'm fine."

He could tell that Arno didn't buy it. The man wasn't stupid. But he also seemed to understand the fact that Suzaku would rather wait until later to talk about the incident. "Okay," was all he said.

They continued the ride in silence for a while longer, passing fields of rice and small farm houses as they went. But then, Connor slowed down as they approached something that the children couldn't see from the back seats.

"Oh no," Connor said under his breath.

"They're monsters," Arno growled. Where Connor seemed almost resigned, Arno looked as if he were about to smash the dashboard in with his fist. Lelouch didn't like it, and he really didn't like the fact that he was starting to smell something burning.

"What happened?" He asked, but the two didn't respond. They were too caught up with staring at whatever was outside the car. "What happened?" He asked again, his patience wearing thin"

"Nothing," Arno muttered. It was a lie, an obvious lie. They were trying to shelter him, keep him in the dark, as if his innocence hadn't already been shattered after he was cast out by his own father to be killed. Well, if they wouldn't tell him, he would find out.

Lelouch tore open the door and hopped out before Connor or Arno could stop him. As soon as his feet hit the dirt he ran to the front of the car to find that he should have allowed them to shelter him. What laid before him was a small grouping of wooden buildings built in the traditional Japanese style. Once upon a time they probably looked beautiful, and the residence were probably kind hearted and polite. But now it wasn't like that. Now there were bullet holes scattered all across the buildings. Half of the structures had been set aflame along with the surrounding plant life.

And while that alone was enough to make Lelouch's heart clench, what made his blood boil and his hands form into fists of barely contained rage was the bodies. Not just the men, but women and children's corpses were scattered about the landscape. They hadn't even been moved after they were gunned down in their homes, and on a street that they had probably walked on almost every day of their lives. The blood of the dead pooled about their bodies, slowly turning a slight shade of brown as it mixed with the dirt and dried.

Yet, even with all of the dead laid out before him, what Lelouch's eyes had focused on the most was the face of a single child. A child Nunnally's age laying on her back only two feet in front of the young prince. Her eyes remained wide open, staring to the sky. They had already begun to dry and turn a milky white but Lelouch could still just make out the brown ring around the iris. Her mouth was barely parted with blood coming from its corner and tickled all the way down to the ground where it mixed with the rest of the reddish sludge beneath her.

By this time Suzaku, who had followed after his best friend, had moved to stand beside the enraged royal and saw the same little girl. But were Lelouch had grown furious, Suzaku only felt defeated. "Lelouch," Suzaku began, but was cut off by his friend.

"I swear to you Suzaku," the boy said, "I swear that one day, I will destroy Britannia!"

"And how will you do that?" Arno asked from behind the two. Lelouch turned to him and found an expression of anger much like his own. But that look did nothing to deflate him.

"I'll build an army," he said.

"Or," Arno countered, "you could build a brotherhood."

A moment passed between the two as what the Assassin said slowly sank in before he came to a decision. "Why Arno, what a brilliant idea." Lelouch finally said, his face contorting into a predatory grin.

"Well then brothers," Arno began, adopting a vicious grin of his own, "I welcome you with open arms."

* * *

A/N: So, what do you think? Was the induction of Lelouch into the brotherhood good, or did it seem poorly written? Suzaku will obviously have a problem with the whole idea, but it's going to be a good source of tension as the story progresses, trust me. Also, we're going to have another time skip, and this one's going to be a bit of a jump. I hope that it seems believable so far, but honestly tell me if you guys have a problem with anything that has happened so far. Finally, huge shout out to wilji1090 for reviewing this after I basically went to his story and advertised myself to him. So, to return the favor I just want to say that he has a story going right now by the name of _Code Geass: Olympus_ which is absolutely amazing so go check it out! Thanks for reading, and please review!


	6. Chapter 6

Note: the cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.

* * *

"Oh!" Arno whispered into Lelouch's ear excitedly, "is this love at first sight!?"

 _Shit,_ Lelouch thought, _was it that obvious? Play it off, play it off!_

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lelouch replied smoothly, acting as indifferent as possible. However, his cheeks managed to betray him as they turned slightly pink.

"Really?" Arno questioned, obviously not buying it for a second. "So you staring wide eyed at the hot redhead was just my imagination, right?"

 _Damn hormones,_ Lelouch inwardly groaned. He knew he shouldn't have been looking at the girl… But for god's sake she was drop dead gorgeous. Still, Lelouch wasn't one to reveal his hand so easily. Especially to Arno. But for the time being he would have to admit defeat. He had been caught, and Arno was one of only two people (Connor being the second) who could see through him like glass. It made Lelouch furious really. The two were always in competition, be it chess or otherwise. Unfortunately for the teen, Arno was a clever bastard and always seemed one step ahead of the young prince. It made for good competition though, so it wasn't completely bad.

"We can talk about this later," Lelouch said, hoping that if he just ignored Arno's prying it wouldn't reach Suzaku and Connor. He could take one of them, but if the two hard asses of the group caught wind of it then there would be hell to pay.

"Fine, fine." Arno conceded. He would have plenty of chances to hassle him about his little crush later, especially since this was a recruitment operation.

The plan was simple, come to a revolutionary group's time of need. Once they managed to save them (and show off a bit) they would offer them a chance to join the brotherhood. Easy and effective… hopefully. They hadn't had the chance to test out their little strategy yet on account of being busy with training Lelouch and Suzaku while they hid at Ashford academy for the last five years. So here they were, in Shinjuku ghetto on the night of a covert Britannian operation against a small resistance group that managed to be deemed enough of a thorn in Clovis' side to be eliminated with extreme prejudice.

At the moment, Arno and Lelouch had positioned themselves in the rafters holding up the ceiling of a small abandoned storage building that the rebels used as their base of operations. Meanwhile Connor and Suzaku were following the Brit strike team as they made their way through the ghetto. Everything was going fine so far, the only problem being the reluctance of the strike team to, well, strike. The group had been waiting for the better part of an hour to make their grand debut and couldn't do anything but wait.

Actually, that wasn't quite right. Lelouch and Arno couldn't do anything. Connor and Suzaku had been thinning the strike team's numbers throughout the hour. So what did Arno and Lelouch do? They sat around and watched the resistance cell go about their day to day operations, which of course lead to Lelouch getting caught watching the redhead. And since Lelouch obviously wasn't going to touch the subject with a ten foot pole, Arno had nothing else to do but watch as Lelouch made small glances at the girl every time Arno pretended to look elsewhere.

He had been the boy's mentor and father figure for over five years. Even if he had the best poker face on the planet, Arno knew Lelouch like the back of his hand. The kid was crazy about the girl. It may have been subtle to anyone else, but when it came to Arno? It was like watching a love sick puppy yelping at the end of its chain. It was certainly a nice change of pace though. Usually, all the boy seemed to care for was his training. He was hell bent on making Britannia pay so it was a nice breath of fresh air to see him thinking about something else. Not to mention, if Arno had anything to do with it? Lelouch was going to get VERY well acquainted with the little miss. Oh yes, there were many cooperative missions together in their future.

Sadly, Arno's devious plots for getting the couple together were cut woefully short when the small earpiece that each of the assassins were wearing let off a short burst of noise. That was their cue.

"Showtime lover boy," Arno whispered.

"Ha fucking ha," Lelouch muttered back as the two rose into a squatting position on the steel beam.

"What's the status of the strike team?" Arno asked Connor through the small communicator, returning to his professional attitude.

"They've set charges on all of the exits," Connor replied quickly, "eight troopers to a door, their surrounded."

"So four doors, eight to a door," Arno counted over the communicator, "that's thirty two out of fifty. I'm guessing the other eighteen are… taken care of?"

"Backup is taking a bit of a dirt nap." Connor said, making Arno grin as he moved to the exit on the north side wall. The building's walls each faced north, east, south, and west respectively. The group had already expected for the strike to split up to take one door each which meant that they were honestly just playing into their hands. Arno took North, Lelouch south, Connor east, and Suzaku west. As Arno situated himself on a support beam up above the northern door, he looked back to see Lelouch mirroring his position at the southern wall.

"How long till the charges blow?" Lelouch asked, pulling out two silenced automated pistols.

"One moment," Connor said before the other three assassins heard the quiet pops of silenced weaponry being fired, and several bodies hitting the floor. "One minute. Suzaku, is west clear?"

"…Yes." It took Suzaku about ten seconds before he reluctantly confirmed that his targets had been eliminated. Arno would have to talk to him again no doubt, he always had a problem with the way the assassins operated. But for now he was complying. The mission came first.

"Good," Arno whispered before aiming two silenced machine guns at the door below him, "and… action."

* * *

Kallen Kozuki had no idea what the hell was going on. One minute, she was hanging out with Ohgi and the others in the hideout, the next minute they were getting surrounded by a Britannian strike team that was, unlike them, armed to the teeth. They were just supposed to be moving stuff around to make room for some new supplies that her brother Naoto was supposed to be getting. Now, she was standing in the middle of the giant warehouse with her hands up. So here she was, listening some self-righteous Britannian nut job run through an endless list of "sins" that they had committed against the Empire.

Luckily, the idiot finally shut up when one of his lackeys whispered something in his ear that seemed to make the idiot tense up. With luck, that meant they fucked up. Maybe Naoto was outside in the Glasgow he was supposed to be getting for them.

"What do you mean we're all that's left?" She heard the jackass whisper angrily. Before the man could answer though, a booming laugh resounded throughout the room. Looking towards the source, she found a man wearing a large royal blue hooded trench coat over a black t-shirt and matching trousers along with a pair of combat boots. Almost all of his face was shrouded however, the only thing in view being the confident grin plastered on his face, and if Kallen had to guess, it was because of whatever he was holding behind his back.

"It seems that you made a small mistake does it not?" The mysterious man asked, obviously not expecting an answer.

"Who the hell are you?" The knuckleheaded leader of the Britannian strike team shouted angrily.

The man's grin only grew wider at the question, he reminded Kallen of a cat that was playing with its food. "Oh, I'm no one of importance," He replied, raising two silenced submachine guns from behind his back. "Well, not to you anyway." Just as the group of soldiers raised their weapons to fire, the man let loose with both fire arms. At the same time, Kallen noticed another hooded figure mirroring the first opened fire at the same time using two automated pistols.

It was actually quite impressive, as the Britannians fired at the first, who bolted to the right firing at the soldiers all the way, the second mimicked him and ran to the left. While the Britannians sprayed inaccurate shots at the two, the combatants sprinted from beam to beam as they riddled the soldiers with bullets.

Then, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, the pair both holstered their weapons and dropped to the ground twenty feet below. By this point, the Britannians had been whittled down to around four completely horrified soldiers. The two mystery men simply smiled from ear to ear and charged at the remaining opponents seemingly bare handed.

The Brits, seeing the reckless move, panicked and fired blindly from the hip, missing spectacularly. As the attackers reached the group, Kallen noticed that they each had a pair of blades protruding from the sleeves of their trench coats. The two moved like liquid between the four men, slicing through their throats, and stabbing them through the heart like it was some form of dance before coming to a stop with their backs to one another. The final combatant's body hadn't even hit the floor, and the two had already returned the blades to the inside of their sleeves. As the final corpse collapsed to the cracked concrete beneath it, the two made a theatrical bow and stayed there for a solid five seconds while the resistance members just stared blankly at the two figures.

"It seems we've left them speechless," The first man said to his partner, "Perhaps we overdid it a smidge."

"Well," the second began, "I believe anyone would be startled at the sight of two hooded figures taking down eighteen armed Britannian soldiers."

The first let out a quick laugh as the two rose to their full height. Now that the two were close up, Kallen noticed that the first one, wearing the deep blue coat, was at least a head taller than his partner who was wearing a black version of the same hooded attire. But she shook off her intrigue with the two quickly. Someone had to look like they knew what they were doing and, while she loved Ohgi and Tamaki like they were brothers, the two of them weren't in any shape to negotiate. She understood that the two had just saved them, but why the hell were they here? She wasn't stupid, there was a reason people did anything. They wanted something, and until Naoto got here? The group wasn't going to be giving them anything.

"Just so you know," She said, being sure to look as in control as she could, "whatever you're here for, you aren't going to get it until our leader gets here."

The two turned to her and watched her from beneath their hoods. She couldn't see anything above their mouths and it bothered her immensely. She couldn't tell what they were thinking, which left her at a massive disadvantage, and made her shift her weight from one foot to the other nervously.

 _What the hell are they thinking?_ She thought to herself uneasily.

* * *

 _Holy shit, she's perfect._ Arno gushed within his mind. She was probably the smartest one of the group, plus? She was able to take control when no one else did. _Lelouch my boy, I have found your wife_

"And who would your leader be young miss?" Arno asked, trying to hold it together until he could tell Connor about his little discovery.

"My brother, Naoto." She replied. Her acting needed work, but at least she was managing. Unfortunately, the brother thing was going to be a bit of an obstacle, but Arno could be resourceful when he needed to be.

"Of course," Arno said, smiling politely… and unnerving the girl because the hood made any smile look like it was predatory. _Just leave the two be for now, with luck they'll hit it off._ "Prince charming, why don't you two negotiate while I talk with the others?" Arno asked as he wrapped Lelouch in a one armed hug and leaned in to whisper a quick "don't fuck up" before turning and making a hasty retreat to the eastern exit.

* * *

"Bastard," Lelouch muttered under his breath, "I should have known he'd do this

"Connor!" Arno called out with his communicator still on, "you'll never guess who Lelouch just met!"

No matter how much Lelouch wanted to hunt down Arno and strangle him alive at the moment, he was now the main negotiator between the brotherhood and the resistance cell. So that would have to be dealt with later. Turning off the communicator, he addressed the girl.

"My apologies miss…" Lelouch prompted, trying to act as polite as possible.

"Kallen," she said quickly.

"Lelouch, charmed." He replied, bowing formally to the girl. "So am I to assume that you are the one that I will be talking to in your brother's stead?"

She stared at him for a moment, obviously still wary of him. In all honesty, he shouldn't be surprised. They had appeared from nowhere and saved their lives. No matter how great it was, anyone with common sense would know that the brotherhood would be expecting something in return.

Now that he was up close, he could see that she was wearing a red sleeveless turtleneck, along with some form of leather vest and brown short shorts, along with hiking boots, and light brown sleeves that were attached to her arms separately. For whatever reason though, she appeared to be of Britannian decent. The blue eyes, red hair, and pale skin gave it away. But for the life of him he couldn't understand why someone with Britannian in them would fight for a Japanese resistance group. But not only did Kallen fight for one, her brother, who was most likely also Britannian, lead the group. He was fighting Britannia because his father had pushed him past the point of return, but what were these two's reasons?

"Yes," she responded finally, breaking Lelouch from his train of thought. "I won't make any deals until my brother gets here, especially when don't even know what you're planning, but I don't intend on just sitting here staring each other down for what could be hours."

"I appreciate it," Lelouch said, being sure not to do anything that could offend any of the rebels. After Kallen nodded in acknowledgement of Lelouch's acceptance of her invitation, she quickly turned on her heal and began to head towards the northern exit with Lelouch only three paces behind. She made a few quiet orders to some of the other members as she went, obviously trying to get the group moving again. She was doing surprisingly well, considering the majority of the group appeared to be upwards of five years older than her. They continued out of the old building, exiting into the alley between the old abandoned warehouse and the neighboring building. Lelouch could smell the rot and decay of the ghetto all around him, along with the ruined concrete and stone buildings around them and frowned.

It had been five years since his induction into the brotherhood. Five years of watching his father torture the innocents that the brotherhood was sworn to protect. Every day that he was trained, he had watched everything that the Assassins were sworn to fight for be destroyed before their very eyes. But from tonight on, that wouldn't be the case anymore. This was the beginning of the end for his father's tyranny.

Kallen lead Lelouch to an old rusted door that went into the next building, and opened it quickly to usher him inside. As she flipped on the lights, he found himself in an old office that had been turned into a makeshift war room. The rotting wooden desk in the center of the old ratty carpeted floor had been cleared off for a map of The Shinjuku ghetto before the invasion, and there was a large assortment of beaten and ragged chairs circling it. But what caught Lelouch's attention was the walls. They were decaying, much like the rest of the room, but the pictures that had been tacked onto the wall were all kept in pristine condition. Each one was framed and as clean as they could possibly be. From what Lelouch could guess they were probably-

"Deceased members." Kallen said. Apparently she could tell what he had been thinking. She strolled over to a shredded leather computer chair and immediately collapsed into it, making the old metal swivel in it groan in protest. She stared at him with her eyebrows knit together, as if deep in thought for a while as Lelouch remained by the far wall where the monument to the dead had been resurrected. "Are you just going to stand there the whole time, or are you going to sit?" She asked.

"My apologies," Lelouch chuckled, realizing what the girl had been pondering. He walked to the table and placed himself in the seat opposite Kallen. "So where would you like me to begin?"

She thought about it for a moment before she simply sagged her shoulders and let out a tired sigh. "Start with who you are."

 _Well,_ Lelouch thought to himself, already not liking where this conversation could lead if he lied, _she won't like the answer to that one._

He activated the communicator in his ear to allow the others to hear, assuming that his best bet was to follow their advice.

* * *

The two sat in a very, very, very uncomfortable silence. Honestly, she didn't know what to say. The entire story seemed ridiculous. Sure, the guy managed to off like eighteen guys with the help of his "mentor," but come on! Seriously? The Martyr prince isn't actually dead, but is in fact in an organization dedicated to killing his own father? Really? And he was just staring at her like he hadn't said the most ridiculous thing she had heard in a year.

Okay, he had the royal purple eyes, and he definitely looked like an older version of the Lelouch Vi Britannia from all the propaganda posters that were made about how he was "killed in cold blood," but why would he even want his father dead? "So why exactly are you doing this again?" she asked, putting her thoughts into words.

He simply stared at her, his face an emotionless mask as he began to formulate a response. "Because he has committed sins that even I cannot overlook,' he began, "not only did he take Japan by force, but he attempted to kill me and my sister to give Britannia a motive to attack. The man doesn't care for the people, foreign or otherwise, and he doesn't care for his children."

She watched as Lelouch's hands clenched on the desk, it was the only indication that he was as angry as his words suggested. But even if she believed what he said, why would he even tell her in the first place? What would compel him to even consider telling anyone this kind of information? It could obviously be a tactic to get her to trust him, but if that were the case then why did he add the fact that he was royalty? If anything, it would make him even less trustworthy.

Eventually, her curious side got the better of her yet again. "Why would you even tell me this?" She questioned, leaning forward in her chair and placing her elbows on the table.

He merely sighed, much like Kallen herself had at the beginning of the conversation, and fixed his gaze directly on her eyes. "Because in the brotherhood, you must have trust," Lelouch said with determination in his voice, "if you can't have trust in your brothers and sisters then you cannot call yourself theirs. So because we are here to offer your group a chance to become a part of that brotherhood, I must have your complete trust, sister."

* * *

Naoto really didn't know what to make of the situation that he had come home to. There were three hooded figures, one in dark blue, one in white, and one in dark yellow directly outside of his resistance cell's hideout. Normally that wouldn't cause him pause, what caused that was what they were doing. They were carrying the bodies of around fifty Britannian soldiers out in front of the warehouse.

He had been busy getting an old Glasgow from another resistance cell that owed him a favor, and was driving back to the warehouse with an old trailer while the others made room for it. So how the hell did a bunch of Britannians get thrown into the mix? More importantly, why were his men staring at the hooded figures like they were ticking time bombs?

Hopping out of the truck, he started marching up to the three anomalies to ask them a question, only to hear one of the most unusual conversations he had ever listened to.

"Tell her that her eyes are like the ocean," the one in blue said, seemingly to the open air, "girls love that."

"No," said the one in white, "tell her that you would move heaven and earth for her."

"Look," said the one in yellow, "whatever you do…"

The three stopped everything they were doing and turned to look at one another before saying in unison, "don't fuck it up."

Naoto stopped in front of the trio and stared at them for a moment, trying to decide if he really wanted to try and talk to people who were talking to an invisible friend. But, since the rest of his friends were still staying at least thirty feet away from them at all times, he decided that he really didn't have a choice. "Who are you people?"

The three immediately turned to him, and Naoto immediately regretted his decision.

"Are you Naoto?" Asked the one in blue.

* * *

Lelouch was on the verge of tearing the communicator straight out of his ear. His colleagues had been helpful for all of ten minutes. Past that their advice had been on how to woo Kallen. He was regretting his choice to let Arno live after he had gone to find Connor and Suzaku. The news that he had shown interest in the girl had apparently become the only thing the group was capable of talking about. Especially when he used the stupid "I must have your complete trust sister," line. Even when he heard that they had found Naoto, they had managed to bring up his feelings on his little sister dating someone.

Even now, he could hear the uncomfortable conversation between the four of them while he attempted to hold a serious conversation with Kallen about what being a part of the brotherhood would entail. She had blushed at the little trust thing and all, but flirting was not what he was here for. He could flirt when his father was dead.

"So you're saying that she has a thing for smart guys?" Arno asked Naoto, obviously trying to undermine his attempts at keeping a blush from his face.

Just as Lelouch was about to yank out the communicator, the door opened to reveal a tall man with hair much like Kallen's "Yeah I guess…" He said uncomfortably as he entered the room, "why do you guys care anyway?" he asked as he turned around to find Lelouch sitting across from Kallen at the table.

"Oh," Arno said innocently, "no reason in particular."

Lelouch was definitely killing Arno when they got home.

A/N: so what do you guys think? It's my first time really going in depth with the whole romance thing. My other story didn't get far enough to really have any in it. I'll probably get around to writing some more material for it, but for the moment I'm having way too much fun with this story. Tell me what you think, if I need to add or remove anything, and please… REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7

Note: the cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.

Things had gone… surprisingly better than expected. Naoto took everything in stride, which was a godsend for a certain prince. In fact he seemed to be extremely patient, and managed to avoid the elephant in the room regarding the two fifteen year olds. Of course, that wasn't hard to do when you were then told that the Martyr Royals weren't actually dead. Not to mention that one of them was currently in a plot to murder his own father for condemning him and his sister to death, along with oppressing the people of both Japan and Britannia. Even Kallen was surprised with how well he was taking it.

"So," Naoto began, "You're Lelouch Vi Britannia, who is supposed to be dead. But you aren't dead, you're actually alive?" Lelouch nodded. "And you're a part of a brotherhood of assassins who want your father dead?" He nodded again. "And they want him dead because he is a tyrant who opposes freedom and peace?" Another nod. "And you want my resistance cell to join your brotherhood because you believe that it's the best way for both groups to get what they want?"

The assassins looked between themselves for a moment before nodding in agreement and facing the Kozuki siblings again. "That about sums it up, yes." Arno said. Naoto sat for a moment, staring at the assassins with a calm and collected stare before finally breaking the silence.

"Assuming I believe all this," Naoto started, "how exactly does killing the Emperor solve our problems?"

This time, Lelouch responded as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the edge of the old wooden table between them. "My apologies, we seemed to have oversimplified it." Lelouch watched as the man simply looked back at him, keeping the mask of indifference up all the while. "You see," Lelouch continued, "we intend to do far more than kill Charles. We intend to remove all forms of filth from Britannia; corrupt officials, murderous generals, and power drunk nobles that consider themselves demigods."

Naoto sat quietly, deep in thought for a long time before posing his next question.

"So you intend to have us become assassins in order to help you accomplish this?" he asked.

"Yes," Lelouch replied, "we're offering you the chance to do what a normal army never could."

The man looked to each of the other attendees in quiet contemplation for a moment. He looked at Lelouch, then to Arno, then to Connor, then to Suzaku, and then finally to his sister Kallen.

"What do you think?" Naoto said, making her look to the ratty carpet of the floor as she answered him.

"I think that they have a better chance than we do if we turn them down." She muttered.

"Then that settles it," Naoto replied, making Lelouch smile in triumph. "Now, why don't you explain why your friends were asking me about my sister's dating habits your highness?"

The smile was gone in seconds.

 **(A/N: I fucking hated this scene. I spent two days trying to get it the way I wanted it and I still don't like it.)**

* * *

"What do you mean we've been recruited!?" Tamaki screeched into Naoto's ear, making him cringe in pain and annoyance. Tamaki was one of his best friends, but he was dumb as bricks at times. He had just finished his little meeting with the brotherhood, and was currently informing the rest of the group about what the assassins wanted. Naoto didn't particularly like the idea of turning himself and the other members over to the brotherhood, but if four assassins had managed to take out fifty trained Britannians then he would be a fool to turn down the offer of being trained to be able to do the same. But unfortunately, that was exactly what Tamaki was: A fool.

"I mean," Naoto replied in a tired sigh, "that the four hooded people that came in here and saved your pathetic ass offered to let us join them." Naoto already knew that Tamaki was going to argue, he always did, but it wasn't going to change a damn thing.

"You can't be serious!" The jackass wailed like a teenage girl, "There's four of them! We should be recruiting them!" Naoto and the others stared at the imbecile for a solid minute before anyone could even hope to respond to what was possibly the dumbest thing any of them had ever heard.

"I don't know why," Naoto muttered, "but I suddenly find myself questioning why we ever became friends." Tamaki simply sneered at the statement. It really didn't matter though, he would forget about the entire thing within days and it would be like it never happened. "Anyone else have a problem with the idea?"

The rest of the group immediately shook their heads in answer _. Now for the hard part_ , Naoto thought.

* * *

Naoto hit the ground with a resounding thud for what must have been the umpteenth time in the past hour. It had been less than a week since their induction into the brotherhood as novices and they had immediately been thrown straight into training. At first, it hadn't been that bad. They had been told that the group would return to their normal lives during the day and practice at night. Things were simple enough at first. They would meet at a private gym within the Tokyo settlement at around ten each night and practice a large variety of things. But after a few days of basic exercises that had been orchestrated by masters Arno and Connor, they had been told that they were to be split up into groups based on their physical capabilities. Those who weren't ready for actual skill training were to remain in the gym with Arno while those who had been deemed capable would move onto mobility training with Connor.

So naturally, Naoto had been placed in the mobility class with several of the other more physically prepared novices. Suffice to say, he wasn't doing very well. At the moment, the group was being shown how to scale walls during stealth operations. But it couldn't be that simple could it? Connor didn't think so apparently. The man had enlisted his personal assistant, Brother Suzaku Kururugi, to prepare the exercise. He had prepared a large acrobat matt for novices to fall on if they lost their grip on the climbing obstacles, and had recreated a small urban environment for them to attempt to traverse. Perfectly reasonable right? It would be if he hadn't decided to add in several tennis ball launchers to pelt them with as they attempted to make their way through the course.

Naoto groaned in agony as he rubbed the side of his head where one of the balls had struck him, causing his fall. He understood that it was to prepare them for if they were ever to come under fire, but did Suzaku really have to aim for the head?

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Came the young voice of a certain tennis ball sharpshooter. Naoto turned his head to see Suzaku in his usual yellow hooded trench coat with a concerned frown as he kneeled next to the downed man. The boy was a brutal instructor, which Naoto and the others hated, but he was also always ensuring that none of the novices were critically injured.

"Three," Naoto responded after looking at the boy's hand. He didn't enjoy the Suzaku's aim, but he wasn't going to yell at the kid for doing what Connor told him to. "Where is Connor anyway?" Naoto asked, taking note of the master's absence.

"He was apparently helping Lelouch with his training in Arno's absence," Suzaku responded as he rose to his feet, "but that's not important for you at the moment. What is important is making it to the wall before I get back to the tennis ball launcher."

"Shit."

* * *

"Busy as ever," Connor said. Lelouch turned away from the pale monitor that he had been staring at for the past four hours in the darkness of his room at Ashford Academy. He was currently attempting to scrounge up a list of low level targets for the new novices to strike once they reached the proper combat effectiveness. It was what he was best at, technical and tactical know-how. While Arno was still better, mostly through decades of experience, Lelouch was the one who most was known for it.

"Well," Lelouch began, stretching in the cheap computer chair, "I'm tired of waiting for my chance. I've trained for five years for the chance to do what you and Arno always told me about; fight for the people fight for my sister, fight for what I know is right."

Connor looked at the boy, obviously torn between understanding and concern for the prince. But Lelouch really didn't care how much work he did. He didn't care that it was two A.M. and that he would be attending classes tomorrow to keep up his innocent teen persona. All he cared about was getting what needed to be done, done. But naturally, Connor didn't agree.

"You can't survive on five hours of sleep a night," he began in his patronizing tone, "I know that you don't like being the only one who has to worry about early mornings, but it's what Britannian teens do."

"But what about Suzaku?" Lelouch shot back angrily, "he's training the novices and I have to go to school? I have thousands of things thousands of times more important to do."

Connor simply sighed as he leaned on the wooden doorway leading to the small room. They had this conversation thousands of times before, it was constantly a point of conflict between Lelouch and his pseudo-parents. "Suzaku is an eleven," Connor replied tiredly, "therefore he plays the part of a blue collar eleven teen who is expected to join the work force as soon as he can hold a tool properly. Just like how Arno and I play the butlers for you and Nunnally. Speaking of which, I don't think she would take kindly to finding out that you suddenly stopped attending school."

Lelouch began to grind his teeth at his mentor's words. He was right, he wasn't just playing the part so that officials didn't get suspicious. Nunnally had to be oblivious as well. Even with her knowledge of Arno and Connor's pasts, Lelouch refused to allow her to know about what they were doing. He believed that they were doing what was right, but he refused to allow her to become involved. But that didn't mean that Lelouch had to enjoy being idle while the others worked. "I hate playing powerless," Lelouch admitted. It was true; he hated not having everything well within his control. And he was a bit of a perfectionist too. It's why he was triple checking each target before even considering them for assassination, and why he was the one doing it.

"What if we found someone to play the part with you?" Connor asked, raising an eyebrow as he suggested the idea. However, Lelouch was a trained assassin. He could already see the small glint in Connor's eye that he got whenever he was planning something. Normally, it was something he would only see when the man was readying himself for a mission or plotting his infiltration strategy. He had a good idea what the scheme was and while part of him was leaping with joy, the other part was dreading the very hint of what Connor was thinking.

 _For god's sake,_ Lelouch thought, his face already turning pink.

* * *

Kallen didn't really know how she was supposed to act at the moment. Apparently, masters Arno and Connor had decided that it was in her best interest to learn infiltration by pretending to be a normal student at Ashford Academy with Lelouch. Normally, she wouldn't have a problem learning infiltration techniques like this. However, she had a very… awkward relationship with her "instructor." After all, only half a month ago her brother had brought up several rather embarrassing topics after finding Lelouch and herself in the old office. So it really wasn't a surprise that when the two found themselves being placed in the exact same classes and going the exact same route to school, they had both become extremely uncomfortable.

Well, Kallen was uncomfortable. She really didn't know how Lelouch felt. His persona was the very visage of indifference, and it almost never came down. The times that it did though, were mostly in moments where the two found themselves alone. Whenever such an event would occur, the boy would give her small tips and critiques about how to keep up appearances, much to the girl's relief.

"Are you okay?" Lelouch asked from across the picnic table from her. It was the middle of their lunch period and apparently she had been staring off into space thinking about her current predicament.

"Yeah," she replied, her cheeks becoming slightly red as she looked at the small lunch that she had packed for the day. _Why am I the only one uncomfortable about the current situation?_

* * *

 _I'm glad I'm not the only one uncomfortable about the current situation,_ Lelouch thought happily. Being who he was, Lelouch obviously showed no signs of his inner turmoil at the fact that Kallen and him were essentially joined at the hip, and probably would be for a very long time. For the most part, he was doing extremely well at hiding his feelings while trying to aid Kallen with her own acting.

That was probably the main reason why he was able to keep his cool actually. He was focusing mostly on her acting rather than their personal disposition. It wasn't that hard either. She practically wore her heart upon her sleeve; always making extraordinarily easy to read facial expressions, or blushing profusely when he made any comments in the presence of others in order to keep his own character intact.

Nodding at her answer, and also trying to move his thought process away from Kallen before his train of thought could get stuck on the thought of Kallen blushing, he returned to his food.

 _This is going to be interesting to say the least_ , Lelouch inwardly sighed.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so I know that this chapter may not be my best. But a lot of things lead up to it. I just started school on Monday, and I was also having a lot of trouble with the beginning of this chapter (which I still hate) and wrestling's preseason conditioning is starting soon too. So please understand. Also, just so you all know, this is probably about the speed that I'm going to be posting at from now on: 1-2 weeks to a chapter. Less free time means less writing being completed simple as that. Not to mention that I will be getting my wisdom teeth removed Monday which is a whole other beast entirely. But don't worry, I'll manage somehow. Thanks for reading and please… REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

Note: The cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.

* * *

"So…" Arno began casually as he poured tea for himself and Lelouch, "how are things with Kallen?"

Lelouch sighed painfully at the question. Not twenty minutes after finally returning from classes for the day and he was already being bothered about whether or not he had made a move on Kallen. _Why couldn't Suzaku fall for a girl?_ Lelouch whined to himself.

"They're fine Arno," Lelouch responded in an emotionless monotone, "she did very well today in keeping up with her fake rich girl persona. I believe that she really does have a knack for undercover operations."

Arno, who had proceeded to seat himself in the fancy oak chair across from Lelouch's own, frowned at the answer. _You didn't specify,_ Lelouch thought triumphantly, _Lelouch one, Arno zero._

The two lounged in the chairs quietly, taking in the beautiful architecture of the room around them from the pure white carpets to the accompanying cream colored walls with intricate gold painted patterns upon them. Lelouch gazed at the ceiling to find an extravagant chandelier suspended above them by the ceiling that was far higher than any ceiling would ever need to be. Finally, he looked to the furniture which was made entirely from finely crafted oak that had been stained a deep chocolate brown. The entire living space was on par with what anyone would expect from a structure built to house Brittanians of high stature.

"Good," Arno said, breaking the silence and replacing his frown with a mischievous grin, "that means that you two will be perfectly compatible for future missions."

Lelouch's jaw clenched as he forced a polite smile on his face. _Alright, one to one._

"Of course," Lelouch chuckled lightly with obvious strain in his voice, "however, that will have to be discussed at a much later date. After all, it's only been three weeks since the induction of the new members."

"Oh yes," Arno agreed cheerfully, "Naturally, but didn't you already build up a fine lineup of small time crime lords for us to target when they're ready?"

Lelouch began to grind his teeth back and forth as he thought back to the list of corrupt businessmen he had selected to take down as beginner's tests for the new assassins. It was indeed a fact that he had prepared such a thing, and what was also fact was that several of these missions would require more than one person to be slotted for the job. _Bastard._

"Indeed I did," Lelouch answered as his fake smile slowly turned more furious, "but for now let's focus on something far more pressing shall we?"

Arno smiled happily at the request. He knew he won, how could he not know he had won? "Absolutely your highness," Arno replied in his most proper tone, "why don't we start with the progress of the other recruits? Or more specifically, the progress of one recruit in particular?"

* * *

Ohgi groaned as he slumped into the old rusty metal chair that served as his only seat within the old rundown apartment that he currently inhabited. His entire body felt like it was on fire. It was no wonder what it was from though, Master Arno had been running himself and the other less physically fit novices until they collapsed every night for the past three weeks in the "Physical preparation group." He could appreciate the need for stamina and strength on account of what they had all signed up for, but by no means could he appreciate the pain that came with it. What was worse? They still apparently had a week to go until they would be able to rest. When they had found that out Tamaki, who was also in the physical preparation group, nearly cried. Honestly though, Ohgi was right there with him.

As Ohgi whimpered painfully at his current predicament, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. _What now?_ He sighed mentally as he reached for the device and answered it

"Hello?" He answered in a defeated tone.

"Hey Ohgi," came an equally drained reply, "its Naoto."

"Hey man," Ohgi said as he stretched uncomfortably while trying to massage his neck with his free hand, "how's it going?"

He heard his friend scoff on the other end of the phone before a rueful chuckle replaced it a second later. "You have to ask?" Naoto questioned, "If you're going through even a fraction of what I am then you know that the brotherhood doesn't fuck around when it comes to training."

He was right. There was no way in hell that Naoto could possibly be having a better time than anyone in the physical preparation group. From what he had heard from the other advanced novices, the mobility course probably made it feel like you were hit in the head by a steel bat that was swung by a guerrilla that was hopped up on steroids.

"Well," Ohgi yawned as he checked the time, "we still have… Fuck." It was already three thirty. That meant they were going to start the whole process over again in a matter of hours.

"Yeah," Naoto agreed sadly, "Let's talk about something else shall we?"

"You mean like how your sister is doing infiltration training alongside her mobility training?" Ohgi asked, already knowing that Naoto was about to have a fit on the other end of the phone. Kallen had been receiving a more spaced out and dialed down version of the mobility class so that she could have time to participate in an extra training exercise being taught by a certain brotherhood member nicknamed "Prince Charming." Ohgi thought the boy was good: determined, dedicated, and extremely smart. But Naoto wasn't so quick to agree with him taking a liking to his little sister.

"That little bastard better-" Naoto began in a loud rage. However, the rest went unheard as Ohgi placed the phone on his lap and snickered at the raging man on the other end of the line.

 _This is great!_ He thought to himself.

* * *

"This is horrible!" Kallen whined to the open air as she made her way to her new dorm room, curtesy of the brotherhood. "Why is everything so freaking awkward when he's around!?"

Every day was the same damn thing: she would meet Lelouch on her way from the dorms to first period and from there it would be an uphill struggle to keep herself from turning as red as a tomato. They were together almost constantly! What made it worse was the whispers that had started to pop up. Everywhere they went someone was muttering something about the "new couple" and it caused nothing but problems.

But of course "prince charming" was completely fine. He never showed any form of reaction to it. The most he would ever say was "let them think what they want. If anything, it makes our disguises more believable." But how was that supposed to help her not be embarrassed? More importantly, what is she supposed to do if someone actually asks her? Does she say yes? Could she say yes? It was a nightmare!

She idly kicked a small pebble that had been on the sidewalk as she went, sending it into the nearby grass. She really shouldn't be worrying about it at the moment though; it was Friday after all, and she would be focusing on her mobility training for the next two days.

She grinned in relief with that thought, she was finally going to get a break from having to play it cool with Lelouch, and could focus on something that wasn't embarrassing.

"I wonder what they're going to teach me next," Kallen mumbled to herself. Recently, she had been going through crowd maneuvering in order to reach targets through groups of people. However, she really couldn't think of anything else she would really need to know for movement. She had already proved to be capable at scaling walls, and moving across rooftops, and the crowd lesson had been a synch after a few tries. Suzaku had said that her physical strength and stamina was almost terrifying, but she was just athletic. She was even more fit than her brother, who upon hearing about her success during one of the many "tests" that Suzaku had set up to see how much she could really take had simply whimpered to himself about her luck.

It really didn't seem that hard though, avoid the tennis balls, and use the shadows to your advantage. It just seemed way too easy for her not to do well. But regardless, tomorrow was going to be way better than the hell that weekdays brought.

* * *

 _Does god just hate me?_ Kallen mentally groaned. Apparently, she had done well enough in the mobility course that it was decided that she was ready to move on to strategic planning lessons. And who would be the teacher for something that required any kind of tactical, or political know-how? Someone with back hair, purple eyes, and happened to be the last person Kallen wanted to be with at the moment.

"Hello Kallen," Lelouch said with an expression that revealed almost nothing, "Today we will be learning how to prepare our equipment prior to an operation."

She stared blankly at him for a moment before hanging her head in defeat. There was no way around it really; she couldn't do anything if she didn't know how to prepare herself for combat. Besides, Lelouch was a genius. She should actually be ecstatic about being able to learn tactics from him. If only she didn't have to deal with her personal turmoil concerning her feelings about the boy.

"Okay," Kallen sighed in defeat, "where do we start?"

* * *

A/N: I realize that the last two chapters have been rather short, but please bear in mind that I have been dealing with a lot recently. My wisdom teeth are gone, but the pain isn't. Plus, I've been trying to keep up with school over the internet which is a real pain. I also didn't really have much else to do in the way of elaboration for this chapter. It's really just me trying to show how things are going with all of the current important characters, as well as fleshing out their relationships a little bit. The next chapter will probably show the novices taking part in their first assassinations, which will hopefully cause those chapters to be much longer. However, that also means that they will take more time to make. Please be patient for them. Thank you all for reading and please… REVIEW!


End file.
